


SnowArcher Camp

by HufflepuffLovesPizza



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/F, Fluff, ReginaEmmaRomCom, Slightly Smutty, Summer Camp
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-17
Updated: 2018-10-17
Packaged: 2019-07-03 16:03:18
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 70,121
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15822276
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HufflepuffLovesPizza/pseuds/HufflepuffLovesPizza
Summary: When store manager turned reluctant YouTube host Emma Swan gets a big promotion at SnowArcher Sporting Goods HQ, long-time executive Regina Mills is not impressed by the goofy blonde until the two wind up as roommates at the first ever sponsored corporate summer camp for kids.





	1. SnowArcher Inc.

**Author's Note:**

  * For [warriorSQ22](https://archiveofourown.org/users/warriorSQ22/gifts).
  * Inspired by [SnowArcher Camp [Art]](https://archiveofourown.org/works/15821937) by [rexinasofia](https://archiveofourown.org/users/rexinasofia/pseuds/rexinasofia). 



> Thank you so very much to the talented rexinasofia for her brilliant, utterly wonderful artwork. I love it so much. Hope the story lives up to her stellar art! https://archiveofourown.org/works/15821937
> 
>  **warriorSQ22** – I would have never written or finished this at all without her endless cheerleading, support, guidance and editing. She even sprinkled some of her writing magic on a few scenes. YOU ARE SO WONDERFUL!!! THANK YOU SO MUCH (it really does require yelling.)  
>  **w3llthatdidntwork** \- HUGE thanks for much needed hope and wonderful betaing.  
>  **Megabucks** \- Thank you soooooo much for helping me write a tough scene and betaing.  
>  If you haven’t read any of these talented writers – PLEASE DO THEY ARE AMAZING. 
> 
> Thank you to RoseWritesStories for the totally awesome betaing!!! And another big thanks to Mike, even though you won't see this :-)
> 
> First time writing Swan Queen, hope I did them justice. This started off just as a short one shot camp thing and it got way way way out of hand, sorry the ending is rushed, ran out of time. 
> 
> Thanks so much to the SQSN organizers! Massive kudos to all of you for the huge undertaking of putting this event together!

“Regina!” Snow called out from her office as she saw her Senior Vice President of Ad Sales walk by in the hallway.

The dark haired woman in the hallway rolled her eyes and turned to glare at her boss Mary Margaret Snow, the CEO of SnowArcher Sporting Goods. She spun around in her high heels and pinstripe business pencil suit, and approached the door with a playful smirk slowly spreading across her lips. 

“Yes, your majesty,” Regina said with a high level of snark.

“You have to see this video one of the interns just showed me,” Snow motioned for Regina to come over, behind her desk to watch her computer.

Regina sighed, she waltzed over to stand next to the seated Snow who had a huge grin on her face. The two women had wildly conflicting business attire styles with Snow wearing casual wear and her pixie brunette cut sticking up in multiple directions against Regina’s pressed suit and perfectly coiffed silky hair looking like she just stepped out of a hair salon all the time.

“This is pretty cool,” Snow said excitedly as she moved the computer mouse around to cue up the YouTube video again.

“Snow, I really don’t have time for cat riding Roomba videos right now,” Regina glanced down at the papers she had in her hands while also checking her phone at the same time. “Henry will be here soon, you can show him.”

Snow glanced up at Regina and rolled her eyes, “This is business related. It looks like one of our store managers is in a popular video.” She then pointed to the screen as the video started playing. “Looks like she’s testing some of our new products.”

“Did she clear that with legal?” Regina was now interested in the video, anger bubbling up and taking a protective mama bear stance over her boss and company.

Regina slightly bent down to stare at the computer screen. It was a grainy, shaky video of a blonde woman about to drink some hot chocolate made with a SnowArcher SnowBoil, a new product that boiled water almost instantly for camping or any outdoors adventure. The blonde woman turned to the little kids around her, said bottoms up and then drank heavily from the cup. Suddenly, there were wild camera movements as the blonde staggered and yelled, presumably knocking down the person filming with their phone since the footage was extremely scattered for a few seconds.

There was yelling coming from the video. “Hot…oh my god…oh my god…” ragged words and breaths were hard to hear and sounded like gibberish coming from the blonde so much so that subtitles were added to the video. “…I just ate fire.”

The blonde woman, who was decked out in SnowArcher snow gear, frantically ran around and then dove head first into a nearby bank of snow to put out the fire in her mouth. She started shoveling snow into her mouth.

There were giggles and cheers from the small crowd gathered around the blonde woman as she left her head buried in the snow but gave a ‘thumbs up’ gesture.

“What the hell am I watching?” Regina squinted at the screen and then turned to Snow with confused eyes.

“Okay, so this intern told me this was the first video and it was an accident but that it got so many hits that Emma, the store manager, was convinced by her employees to make more videos,” Snow laughed at the screen as the next video started playing, “she goes around testing the products in her store. Our products.”

Regina slammed her pile of papers down on Snow’s desk, knowing where Snow’s thinking was heading.

“We could fire her for these unauthorized videos,” Regina glared at the computer screen.

“Calm down, no we won’t,” Snow smiled while watching the video. “We will not.” Snow made serious eye contact with Regina then turned back to the computer screen.

Regina let out a deep sigh and watched Snow watching the next stupid video.

“You think this is good marketing? Seriously?” Regina looked down at her boss and admittedly friend. “Snow you really need to leave marketing and ad sales to me,” Regina crossed her arms against her chest, keeping a stiff posture as she looked down at her boss.

“I am, but this is different. This is what they call social media and this Emma has a flare for testing our products. She seems to have a real love for…” Snow waved her hands looking for the right description.

“Death wishes? Lawsuits? Unnecessary broken bones? She’s an idiot,” Regina continued watching the video with the idiotic blonde woman with a disapproving look. “Is this idiot really helping sales?”

“I don’t know. You tell me? Maybe cross reference when she started posting videos to quarterly reports?” Snow looked up to Regina and shrugged her shoulders.

Regina sighed heavily. There was no way this blonde idiot was helping sales, she thought.

“So you want this Emma…” Regina was afraid to see where this was going to go with Snow.

“Swan. Emma Swan,” Snow finished Regina’s sentence.

“Swan? Seriously?” Regina thought that name had to be made up because it was absolutely ridiculous like the blonde namesake that was now product testing heating pads while letting her staff pile as many on her as possible before the heat became unbearable.

“If the videos really did improve sales,” Snow said and she could tell Regina was going to interject, “I would like to bring her here to talk about…maybe doing some product testing here.” The CEO looked up to her SVP of Ad Sales with an adorable grin on her face.

Great, Regina thought, another crazy Snow idea. If she admitted to herself though, half of Snow’s crazy ideas were actually decent and kept the company afloat in rougher times. And the other half of Snow’s ideas, were just plain crazy and a waste of time. She was willing to bet this Emma Swan was a waste of time; although, Regina saw the next video out of the corner of her eye and she fought hard to suppress a laugh watching the blonde idiot getting bucked off a pony. She then picked up her papers and smoothed down her suit.

“As you wish,” Regina gritted through her teeth as she left Snow’s office.

*****

A few days later, Regina sat dumbfounded on a couch in her living room while she stared at her laptop screen in her lap with her glasses on. Henry was on the floor doing his homework. It was a Sunday night tradition, Henry did his weekend homework and Regina caught up on her endless stream of emails, then they had a movie night.

They lived in a cozy brownstone in Brooklyn, which was close to SnowArcher’s warehouse office and Henry’s school. Regina’s parents had wanted them to move next door to them in the upper east side of Manhattan, but as much as Regina loved her parents she didn’t want to live that close to them. They were overbearing and meddlers, having the best intentions in really big flamboyant ways, especially in the case of one Cora Mills.

The brownstone had four levels, but since it was a brownstone it was narrower than wide, giving it a cozier feel rather an empty mansion feel. The garden level, where they spent most of their time had the family room and a small library. The parlor level had the kitchen, formal living room and dining room. The third level was Regina and Henry’s bedrooms. The fourth level had a guest room and Regina’s office, with a spectacular view of the city. And then there was the roof terrace patio. Henry was only allowed to visit supervised as one time some of his action figures had gotten thrown off in an attempt to see if they could really fly.

Regina was proud of the home she had made for herself and Henry. Yes, her parents had helped with the down payment but now she was self-sufficient. And she loved their life together. It had taken years to get over the heartbreak of losing Henry’s father to cancer but now she was finally at a place where she didn’t think darkness would swallow her whole. She vowed to herself and for the sake of Henry, she never wanted to feel that devastating loss again, she never wanted to fall that deep in love because she didn’t think her heart could bear another loss. So she never really dated that much, her life was fulfilled as it was, she was very content.

“What an idiot.” Regina readjusted her glasses as she continued to watch an Emma Swan YouTube video.

Regina was in a casual sweater and her fancy sweatpants as Henry called them.

“Who’s an idiot?” Henry asked as he looked up from his homework. The ten-year-old kid with cute floppy brown hair smiled a big toothy grin at his mom.

“There are some ridiculous videos that someone is posting from one of our stores in Boston,” Regina grimaced as she talked to her son but had her eyes glued to the screen.

Henry leapt up from his position on the rug and vaulted onto the couch, jostling his mom as he leaned over to see the video; Regina gave her son a fake glare as she held onto the laptop. The video was playing where Emma got bucked off a pony because Regina wanted to see that one in its entirety after catching a glimpse in Snow’s office. Henry immediately started giggling as the blonde landed on the ground, the pony walked away, and she rubbed her bottom.

“Well, he’s an ass,” moaned out the blonde from the video as she tried to stand up from the mud pile she had been bucked off into.

“Not if he’s a pony, get your language right Miss Swan,” Regina talked back to her laptop screen with a scowl.

Henry giggled even more, then he leaned over and pushed a button on his mom’s laptop.

“Henry, what are you doing?” asked Regina as she turned to stare at her son.

Suddenly, Emma Swan the blonde idiot star of the unauthorized SnowArcher product-testing videos was taking up Regina’s entire 55-inch television screen mounted elegantly as one can mount an electronic device in an otherwise classy living room. Blonde hair and green eyes were projected in brilliant color in a massive display.

“It says there are eight more videos. Can we watch these instead of a movie… please,” Henry asked while smiling at his mom.

Regina stared up at the apparently stupidly fearless blonde woman as her image took up a quarter of one of her living room walls and shook her head in defeat.

“You would rather watch this idiot than Star Wars?” Asked a very surprised Regina to her son.

“She’s funny, isn’t that why you were watching them?” Henry asked as he tilted his head and looked at his mom.

“No, I don’t think she’s funny. She’s an idiot who’s going to break her neck one day.” Regina stood up from the couch, put her laptop on the classic mahogany coffee table and walked over to the massive television screen. “I’m watching these asinine videos for work.”

“Does that mean you’ll be in one?” Henry asked excitedly while staring mesmerized at the screen. “Is she at your office? Can we meet her?”

“Absolutely not, to all those questions” Regina scoffed but she too was mesmerized by the video on the massive screen.

“You could at least teach her how to ride a horse,” Henry played the video again where Emma got bucked off the pony and he giggled. “She’s terrible.”

“Henry, everything she’s doing is stupid and dangerous. Do not attempt these idiotic stunts.” Regina did let a small giggle escape her lips as Henry scrubbed back on the video to see the blonde get bucked off the pony into the mud again.

Regina made homemade pizza as they watched the rest of Emma Swan’s videos. Henry sat with a gleeful smile while Regina sat with a scowl watching the athletic blonde woman about to scale a rock-climbing wall while several people below her stood ready to shoot at her with large toy guns and rocket launchers. She sighed loudly, and her nostrils flared watching the blonde explain how the distraction of being pelted with yellow balls wasn’t going to cause her to lose grip because of the superior quality climbing products. Emma showed off SnowArcher gloves and shoes as she scaled the wall, making both talking while rock climbing look somewhat effortless. Regina just rolled her eyes at the screen.

“What the hell does this prove?” Regina was mad at herself now for talking to the screen and quite possibly the idiotic blonde woman, who did manage to scale the whole wall while narrating and getting hit with what appeared to be spongy yellow balls.

“I guess it shows the gloves and shoes work good?” Henry offered a possible logical explanation in between his giggles and bites of pizza.

Of course, the real reason Regina was watching more of the stupid videos was because she had done the research and quite possibly these videos were increasing sales. How was that possible Regina wondered? Several of the videos had gone viral and whether they liked it or not, the idiotic blonde woman called Emma Swan was fast becoming the face of SnowArcher Sporting Goods. Regina admitted very begrudgingly, this was an impressive feat for a store manager from Boston.

*****

The SnowArcher store located in Boston was tucked away next to a big chain office supply store and a big chain bathroom store that also seemed to sell just about everything else not related to a room holding a toilet and shower. The modest sporting goods store was easy to miss. The sales of the store had been mediocre for most years, just enough to stay afloat. However, the last few months, sales had been getting better and better. And the manager of the store knew why and it made her mostly uncomfortable.

The store manager, Emma Swan, strolled in her store carrying a box of pastries for her employees, minus two bear claws she already devoured herself. After she had her brief morning meeting roundup with her employees while they munched on carby delights, Emma did her usual morning rounds of walking the store. She chatted up all her employees in different sections from shoes to aquatic equipment to hiking gear to the large archery section. Everyone wore jeans, khaki pants or shorts with a green soft t-shirt with the company logo on it supplied by the company. The logo had changed over the years, Emma always remembered one of the first ones, it was a hilarious design with a cartoon bear squatting almost looking like he was going to the toilet. At first as a seasonal employee, Emma hated wearing the company logo t-shirt, then as the years went by she realized how lucky she was to wear such comfortable clothes every day. Plus, SnowArcher supplied five high quality soft t-shirts, so you could go a whole week without doing the laundry, her favorite part.

As most days, Emma strolled through the store and was called out by one of the guys who threw her a football. She caught it and threw it back. Then it became a tossing game between several employees. The game was getting intense with two teams developing, seeing which team could score a touchdown by getting the football in the big canoe at the far end of the store.

“Boss! Go long!” one male employee yelled out to Emma.

Emma started running as she watched the football thrown high and far. She ran faster so she could try and catch the football, while also dodging curious customers.

“Hey Emma! Phone! It’s the mothership!” a younger female employee yelled out to Emma.

Emma was in mid-run to catch the football when she heard the yell. She turned her head, but didn’t stop running. She crashed into some mannequins, knocking them down and falling on top of them. Several employees rushed over to see if their boss was okay.

“You okay Emma?” asked the same female employee who yelled about the phone call as she ran over to the smashed display of mannequins and her boss.

“I’m fine Lily,” said Emma. As she tried to sit up both mannequins fell on top of her. “This might be the best action I’ve had in awhile.” Emma pushed the male and female mannequin off of her.

Lily moved the mannequins to the side so Emma could stand up.

A young blonde woman came running over to Emma. “Why do you think corporate is calling? Do you think it’s because of the videos?” She asked with a scrunched up worried expression on her face.

Emma smoothed down her shirt and ran her hand over her ponytail, tightening it back up as it loosened with her fall.

“I’m sure everything is fine Alice, don’t worry,” Emma reached out and patted her arm.

The store manager and the assistant store manager both started walking away from the demolished display with an anxious, nervous energy surrounding them.

“Don’t worry boss! I got it,” a male employee jogged over and started cleaning up the mess.

“Thanks buddy,” Emma looked over to Lily. “I’ll take the call in my office. “

Emma tried her best fake smile, yet she was slowly dreading this phone call. She walked slowly to her office; calls from the mothership aka the corporate headquarters were never really good. Mostly, because she was forced to partake in monthly company wide conference calls usually lead by this insufferable woman Regina Mills who was head of sales or something. The woman had a nice voice; she could have a career reading audio books or something. The fierce woman’s voice sounded like smoky chocolate or maybe something velvety or luxurious. However, the ad sales woman’s strategy for marketing left Emma cold and scratching her head sometimes. She never said anything though; no one ever spoke up on those conference calls. The one time someone did, it was brutal and uncomfortable for everybody and eventually the Regina Mills woman had been right so that was annoying too. This woman even talked down sometimes to Mary Margaret Snow, when that happened Emma’s eyes were always wide open. Mary Margaret Snow was a legend to her and just about everybody else. When Mary Margaret Snow won the gold medal for archery it was big international news. One of the reasons was because some of the men doubted she was any good, she was just a girl after all they said. So during the Olympics after hours, they had another competition between men and women, Snow beat them all. She was the best shot in the world and most people speculated even better than famed Robin Hood. So how dare anyone question the CEO of SnowArcher like this Regina Mills woman did sometimes over the conference calls.

The door was closed and Emma sat down in her chair, ready to pick up her desk phone. Sweat ran down her back and pooled neared the waistband of her jeans. She was sure it was someone in Ad Sales to tell her about some new product and display that was up and coming. And really she hoped it had nothing to do with the silly videos her employees convinced her to partake in. She took a deep breath and picked up the phone.

“Hi, this is Emma,” Emma said with a smile on her face as she learned people could tell whether you were smiling or not on the other end.

“Hi Emma, this is Snow. How are you?” came a very soft, sweet voice over the phone.

Emma gasped and nearly dropped the phone.

A few minutes later…

Emma opened her office door and her eyes went wide again when she saw nearly every employee anxiously awaiting the outcome of the corporate phone call.

“That was Mary Margaret Snow on the phone,” Emma said in a daze as she scanned the worried faces of her employees. She let out a long, deep breath she didn’t realize she had been holding.

“Omg, the SnowArcher herself?” Lily asked excitedly.

“Yup,” Emma stared at Lily and nodded, still looking shocked.

“Was it about the videos?” asked Alice with a tense smile.

“Yup.” Emma nodded again, still dazed.

“Are we in trouble?” Alice asked their fearless boss.

Emma let out a deep breath. “I have been summoned to corporate headquarters in New York.”

A female employee from the back of the group, moved forward and looked at Emma. “Can you get Snow to sign my Wheaties box?”

*****

Most open office floor plans honestly sucked no matter how fancy or unique the floor plans were or how hard they were sold by office managers trying to maximize profit and space while also eliminating the privacy of their workers. So when Regina suggested such a plan to cut overhead office costs, she made sure she would still have privacy with an office. What she didn’t plan on was Snow bringing in her love of the outdoors and look of their company to the new office design. Snow designed an office so almost everyone could have an office work tent. One of the reasons Regina started to work for SnowArcher was because Snow. Despite having quite a few creative differences, Snow was a trailblazer for women and Regina respected her. She didn’t always understand Snow’s love of wanting to be outdoors all the time, yet she did see the beauty every once and awhile, albeit briefly. And despite Regina’s harsh approach at times, Snow would never let go of Regina because she was one of the few people who would always be brutally honest about everything with her.

Regina was content to see while traditional offices were gone; thankfully Snow’s office ‘tents’ provided privacy. And thankfully the ‘tents’ did have actual walls and were somewhat sound proof for making and receiving important business calls. The ‘tents’ were scattered around an open arena like area that spanned three levels, the ‘tents’ lined the walls; like a nice restaurant with secluded booths. The whole open office was a forest theme. Mostly, the open office and the ‘tents’ stayed somewhat quiet, except on certain sporting event days or if Snow was launching a new product in which everyone was encouraged to join in on the fun.

Today for some reason, there was a lot sound coming from the first floor that was a big lounge hang out area in the middle of the open space with couches, huge floor pillows and an entertainment center to watch television or play games. The office was more like a stadium and had the misfortune of echoing voices everywhere. Regina found out the hard way that if someone stood by the vending machine, their conversation could be heard across the massive open space near the accounting department. This is how she learned Leroy in shipping got diarrhea whenever he ate onions and that Ruby from human resources had a one-night stand with Rob from the publicity department. Then she heard Dorothy from human resources was upset about hearing about Ruby and Rob, because Regina suspected there was a love triangle brewing. She loathed office gossip and thanks to Snow’s whimsical office ideas, she knew way too many personal details about her co-workers that she didn’t want to know.

Regina rose from her desk and exited her office tent and SWOOSH! She just barely missed being hit by an arrow. The zooming arrow hit the wall right behind her head with a thud. She looked up shocked and angry, her eyes blazing. Who could be so irresponsible to shoot an arrow in the office? Besides Snow that is, which the woman had done several times but also the woman was an expert marksperson. She stormed up to the railing and looked down from her third level balcony to the bottom level where a blonde woman looked up with a baffled look on her face. There was a small crowd gathered around her, including Snow.

“Sorry! I didn’t know it was going to go off,” the surprised blonde woman handed back the bow and arrow to Snow with a sheepish look on her face.

“Regina, are you okay?” Snow shouted up to the third level with a concerned look on her face.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Regina yelled back to the baffled blonde and Snow. There was definitely an edge in her voice. THAT blonde, it was the blonde from the idiotic videos, of course it would be. That Emma Swan woman.

That voice. Emma cringed even more. It was THE voice from those monthly conference calls; she immediately recognized that silky, smooth yet infuriating obnoxious voice. It was that Regina Mills ad sales woman.

Almost everyone in the company cringed; it was common knowledge that Regina Mills was not the easiest person to get along with in the office. She was incredibly good at her job and was extremely intense about it. Regina Mills didn’t stand around and talk about her weekends or ask about people’s weekends. Regina worked all the time and never took breaks. She wasn’t at work to make friends. She was at SnowArcher to further achieve great financial success for the small company that had grown exponentially in the last few years and seemed to be getting stronger and on the verge of bigger expansion. The company’s biggest competitor being Gold Sporting Goods and Regina hoped to crush them one day soon.

Regina took her time descending the stairs to the bottom level, by the time she reached Snow and Emma the small crowd gathered around had dispersed and went back to work.

“Hi,” Emma said in sheepish tone with a shy smile to Regina Mills standing in front of her now. She locked eyes for a moment with Regina. Wow, she thought. The eyes that belonged to that rich, fierce voice were also just as rich and fierce. Emma took a deep breath and tried not to sway back and forth on her legs nervously.

Regina paused for a moment while she stared back into the blonde woman’s expressive green eyes. There in the flesh was the idiotic star of the SnowArcher viral product testing videos. She was a little taller than she imagined and even prettier in person, although the grainy quality of the streaming videos were not to be trusted no matter how many times Regina watched them for research purposes.

“How would you like a cup of the best office coffee this side of Brooklyn?” Regina forced a smile to the blonde woman and to Snow. “We’ll make sure it comes straight out of the SnowBoil for you,” Regina smirked as she walked away.

Emma turned to Snow and gave a tight smile before watching the fierce brunette woman walk back up to her office.

“She’s not really getting me coffee is she?” Emma asked to Snow who shook her head no in return.

“That is Regina Mills, our Senior Vice President of Ad Sales,” Snow motioned to the now retreating Regina as she walked back up the stairs to her office. “We’ll catch up with her later.”

“Can’t wait,” Emma responded back in a shaky voice, then cleared her throat and tried again.

Snow had excused herself from Emma for a minute, the CEO was pulled away by some other employees for urgent business matters. This gave Emma a few minutes to look around the office by herself and to process everything that had been happening since she was whisked away from the airport and thrust into the corporate world of SnowArcher Inc. or SAI for short.

Emma had watched the fierce brunette woman walk gracefully all the way back up the stairs, she wondered if there was an elevator in this place? And she wondered why this Regina Mills was the only person in the office wearing heels when everybody else was wearing some kind of SnowArcher footwear product from sneakers to hiking boots. When Regina finally reached her office tent and slammed her door shut, Emma couldn’t stop a smirk spreading across her face. The woman definitely made an impression, Emma thought for a minute the woman might slap her; although, her death glare did leave a pretty harsh sting. And this is why, Emma thought, she didn’t like the corporate world, she preferred her store where she could laugh or joke around then work when they needed to work. That sassy Regina Mills woman seemed to exemplify the corporate world and it left Emma feeling cold, however she will admit the woman was smoking hot. She wasn’t blind, there were some small perks to the icy corporate world and apparently fancy skintight suits with red apple lipstick could be a job perk as opposed to seeing her employees every day in khaki pants with the pooping bear t-shirt. Although, she was told on numerous occasions that the green t-shirt brought out the green in her eyes.

Snow hadn’t talked to her yet about the videos, but she had a feeling she was going to be punished for her unauthorized videos posted online. She never intended on posting the videos, one of her employees, Alice a sweet tech savvy college kid, did and they took off and went viral. The sales in the store skyrocketed because of the popularity of the videos; people actually were coming into the store to buy sporting goods and hoped they would get to see the making of a new video. And of course, Emma herself, that part really annoyed her. Emma didn’t even have a Facebook page or any social media so she really didn’t see what the big deal was but her staff kept telling her it was a big deal and roped her into doing more videos. She found it really lifted up morale and became a team project for her staff. They brainstormed together which products to test and then Alice would shoot the footage and edit it. All Emma had to do was be the guinea pig, well the charismatic guinea pig with the long blonde curly locks and muscular physique. Her staff consistently told her she had to be the tester because she was the boss, truth was she was a natural disaster and her klutzy swagger came as quite comical on screen; plus, her extremely aesthetically pleasing features were a selling point too she was told. So she sucked it up and kept being the host of the videos because it was helping business, Alice was getting better at her editing skills and everyone else was having fun. Plus, it did come across to viewers as charming that Emma didn’t want to necessarily be in the videos. 

Emma looked around the impressive corporate office of the company she had worked for the past eight years. She couldn’t believe it had been eight years. It was supposed to be a temp job until she found something else permanent. Then she got promoted from seasonal employee to regular employee then assistant manager then her old boss passed the Boston SnowArcher torch onto her. Her old boss Cleo had told her that she was a natural leader. Emma had never really had a home growing up in the foster system and working at her store, getting to know all her employees had become a family to her. She was proud they had built their store into one the most successful locations and she was proud of many outreach programs they created for young local kids there. Emma didn’t want to think that maybe by making and posting those videos she had risked her job and now could possibly lose the closest thing she had to a family.

*****

Regina had not been in the mood to finally meet the YouTube SnowArcher star this morning. Snow could have at least given her a heads up on when the idiotic, prone to accidents blonde woman was going to show up. She had decided to hide out in her office for the rest of the day so she wouldn’t have to talk to the blonde again. Hopefully, Snow was telling the blonde to stop with the videos; perhaps a small slap on the wrist and then send her on her way back to Boston.

She got up from her desk to get herself another cup of coffee and stretch her legs. As soon as she entered the hallway, she came face to face with the Emma Swan woman again.

“Hey…” Emma said softly and stuck her hands in her jean pockets and eyed Regina carefully with her green sparkling eyes.

Regina noted the woman was wearing skintight jeans, a black sweater with a cringe inducing red leather jacket. Or was it pleather? Even worse.

“Hey,” Regina said harshly back to the apparently clueless blonde, she wasn’t a ‘hey’ kind of person.

“Again, sorry about the arrow earlier. I didn’t know it was going to take off like that,” Emma smiled at Regina.

“Yes, that’s what arrows do dear,” Regina leaned in briefly with serious, almost scary eyes and shoved her empty coffee cup into Emma’s hands. Regina grabbed a bow and arrow displayed on the wall next to her, all the walls were lined with SnowArcher equipment for display art and practical purposes throughout the whole office. She quickly loaded the arrow and let go all in one impressive swoop, not wrinkling her business attire at all.

The arrow shot across the open arena, tore through a letter held in a guy’s hand and then slammed into the wall. It was a perfect release and perfect landing for the arrow and archer. The guy yelped and dropped the coffee in his other hand with his hands shaking as he gaped back at Regina and Emma; coffee running down his shirt and pants.

“Damn…” Emma just said slowly while bringing her eyes back to Regina. This uptight stunning woman was one hell of an archer and sure shot.

“I suggest you leave some toys to the adults,” Regina said while staring hard into Emma’s eyes. She then swiftly and carefully put the bow back on the wall, grabbed her coffee cup from Emma’s hand and walked away. She purposefully didn’t want to notice how warm and soft the blonde’s hands were as they brushed against each other.

Emma couldn’t stop her eyes from trailing down Regina’s backside as the woman walked away from her once again in the same day. Thankfully, she averted her gaze as soon as the brunette’s head whipped around.

Regina turned her head and stared back at Emma hard, then turned and went back into her tent and slammed her flap/door shut. And unfortunately, didn’t hear the last thing said to her, which would come back to haunt her.

“See you around neighbor,” Emma smirked.


	2. Office Dynamics

“You can’t be serious. You’re promoting a store manager to vice-president? Have you lost your mind?” Regina couldn’t help the anger seeping into her voice. She had stormed into Snow’s unannounced.

Regina paced back and forth while Snow sat at her desk.

“Regina, she’s not just a store manager. She’s the number one store manager in the entire franchise. She has single handedly launched our online presence and kind of created a brand for us,” Snow stood up from her desk to approach Regina.

“A brand that says we’re idiots? That we enjoy getting pelted by toy guns? That we promote terrible food choices while dangerously snowboarding?” Regina was beyond exasperated.

“So you watched some more of her videos?” Snow smirked at Regina. “Which one is your favorite?”

“I watched one where she ate a bear claw while snowboarding. She got the promotion of a lifetime for that?” Regina looked as if she was having a toddler temper tantrum.

“Regina, that video is very popular,” Snow tilted her head in a comforting way towards Regina.

“Why am I not surprised? It’s a beautiful blonde idiot eating a donut while doing something dangerous and stupid,” Regina sat on the corner of Snow’s desk while letting out a big dramatic huff.

“Beautiful huh?” Snow smiled at Regina.

“Well, people aren’t watching for her hosting skills or grace,” Regina snorted. She didn’t want to tell Snow how many times she had watched the videos for research purposes. Purely for research purposes and not because that Emma Swan looked better in the SnowArcher gear than the models they hired for photo shoots and publicity.

“Give her a chance, I like her. There is something familiar about her,” Snow got a faraway look in her eyes.

“Maybe it’s because you’re an idiot too,” Regina could feel her face growing warmer; she had to get a hold of her anger. Blowing up in front of the CEO, no matter how dim witted the woman could be at times, was not a good career move. Plus, Snow wasn’t actually an idiot. And they did like to tease each other a bit. Snow was the closet thing Regina had to a real friend and if she was being brutally honest, Regina loved Snow and also thought of her as part of her family.

“She’s actually very business savvy, she’s gotten the company and brand out there in ways I didn’t think was possible.” The pixie cut brunette CEO tilted her head and stared at her senior vice president with a look of endearment despite the glares she was getting back in return.

“By posting stupid YouTube videos?” Once again, Regina scolded herself for another outburst. “It’s amazing she hasn’t broken her neck yet,” Regina fumed. Yes, she had seen every single one of the insipid videos by the crazy blonde woman posted out of her Boston store. She had watched them all. Emma Swan. Definitely a made-up name to get more hits on her channel.

Snow sat down next to Regina on her desk and put her arm around her shoulder.

“Give her a chance, remember how much I hated it when you made us change our logo? Change is hard, I get it but sometimes we have to let change in,” Snow said softly to Regina.

“We had to change our logo Snow, because your original logo looked like a bear having a bowel movement,” Regina glared at Snow, yet leaned into the arm around her shoulder.

“It was a bear shooting an arrow,” Snow scoffed back to the insult.

“No, it looked like a bear taking a shit.” There was no budging Regina on this opinion and sometimes crass words were necessary to sell a point.

“He was squatting to shoot,” Snow looked over to Regina exasperated, “Regina, remember when you didn’t like Rob when he started, and he’s been great for the PR department.”

“No, he hasn’t. He’s caused more problems than actually doing his job. People are tricked by his ridiculous accent,” Regina scoffed quite loudly.

“He charmed you that one time,” Snow winked at Regina.

Regina pursed her lips. Yes, Rob from publicity had charmed her one time, after a holiday party, too many glasses of wine and as she liked to call it libidosily challenged instead of horny. She had a night where a deep wave of longing came over her and Rob had been there, so she took it. Thankfully, it was just a few heated kisses and then she came to her senses. She thought they had been on the same page about it being an alcohol induced forgettable indiscretion, then she heard gossip (from that special loathed spot) that Rob was telling people they slept together. After, she heard co-workers gossiping about her one stand with Rob that didn’t actually happen, she had been extremely happy that even through her lonely, alcohol fog that they hadn’t actually consummated anything. She wanted to fire Rob immediately for lying, yet she knew she couldn’t. So ever since then, she’s been waiting for the opportunity since Snow was so moral and gave everyone like five second chances.

The brief physical closeness to someone made her weaker with longing and melancholy. She hadn’t really dated anyone after Daniel had passed away and she didn’t really miss companionship that much. She missed Daniel and he was gone. Daniel wasn’t like other men or women, he wasn’t afraid of her. Her heart ached that Henry never got to know his father. She never really thought of meeting anybody else, she had a great love with Daniel she knew she was lucky. To hope for another great love in one lifetime seemed like a wish too grand to make. And to be with someone just to be with someone seemed unnecessary. Regina liked herself, she liked just hanging out with herself. She loved her time with Henry. Anyone she met would have to be beyond great, to risk anything happening to Henry. Maybe when Henry was married she might think of meeting someone again.

“Snow, you promised to never mention that again,” Regina said this softly.

Snow picked up that it was something not to be joked about. She often wondered why Regina never really dated. She got excited when there was brief office gossip of Regina and Rob, but it died as quickly as it started. Although, she wasn’t overly fond of Rob, Regina could definitely do better. Then Rob moved onto wooing quite a few other women in the office, so much so that the HR department had to institute a form to cut down on work place romances.

“I never really got the chance to get to know Daniel, yet I know he was a truly wonderful man. A warm big hearted man that wouldn’t want you to never love again, Regina.” Snow rubbed Regina’s shoulders and stared at her with big, loving eyes.

Regina looked down at the floor and then slowly up to Snow.

“Snow you’re changing the subject,” Regina stared sternly at her boss. “What possible qualifications does this Emma Swan have to be the vice president of product testing or whatever official nonsense title you have concocted for her.”

“She has no qualifications,” Snow said with a big smile.

“Great,” Regina pushed off the desk before Snow could grab her again. “What are you going to do with this Emma Swan?”

“You’ll figure it out,” Snow pushed off the edge of her desk then walked around to sit behind it again.

“Why me?” asked Regina with her arms across her chest.

“Oh, because you’ve been promoted too, Executive Vice President Chief Operating Officer,” Snow tried to say this as casual as possible but the twinkle in her eyes gave it away.

“Snow…” Regina was stunned once again today. “You’re maddening.”

*****

Emma waltzed into her store carrying a box of assorted donuts for her staff and with mixed feelings on the new chapter of her life. She tried her best to smile; yet her face was fighting her. She was sad, this was one of the last times she was going to walk through her store’s doors excited to start a new day with her family of employees. She could tell by the way they were staring at her, they didn’t know whether to look happy or scared about her trip to the corporate headquarters. Emma couldn’t believe Snow offered her a new job, a gigantic promotion of sorts that she wasn’t qualified for in any way possible. And she wasn’t the one who deserved it, if anything it was Alice and all the youngins on her staff who kept posting, retweeting and making up all the social media stuff. Snow insisted it was Emma who created this opportunity because she saw the potential and nurtured it. Emma learned Snow was big on nurturing and growing. She was really scared to leave the comfort of her job and city, she knew if she didn’t take this opportunity she would regret it, even if it did blow up in her face.

After their morning meeting where Emma announced to her staff she would be leaving the store, moving to New York and that her assistant manager Lily would be promoted, there had been many gasps and a few tears.

Alice rushed up to Emma after the meeting.

“It’s my fault you were promoted, I’m so sorry boss,” said Alice with big sad eyes and an adorable toothy frown.

Emma loved Alice’s logic. The college kid wasn’t mad at not getting recognition for what was basically her idea, she was just sad that her friend was moving away.

“No, Alice it’s my fault, you’re the one that deserves the promotion. All those videos, you’re the one that works so hard on them.” Emma smiled at her. “I talked to Snow. As soon as you graduate she said to come to New York and if you’re interested they’ll find a job for you.”

Emma patted Alice’s arm and smiled warmly at her. Alice returned her smile slowly.

“That’s not true, the videos aren’t anything without you, that’s really the only reason people watch them.” Alice looked a little better as she smiled at Emma. “Do you think people really care whether the SnowArcher running shoes glide or not?” Alice made big sweeping motions with her arms in her explanation. “No, they want to see you running in them and then stopping for a popsicle.” Alice then lunged and engulfed Emma in a hug.

Lily came up next in the parade of people wanting to talk to Emma and offer more condolences than congratulations. Emma gave Alice a pat and the young blonde woman finally let go and wandered off.

“I can’t believe you’re leaving,” said Lily with a pouty face and a whiny voice. “You said you would retire here.”

“I did, I thought I would and mostly likely I will.” Emma walked over to a table and grabbed a donut. “Maybe I’ll flunk out of corporate early and hopefully be back soon.” Emma took a bite of a donut. “Snow said I could come back to this store anytime I wanted to. She said I would always have my job here.”

That safety net of getting to come back to her store was the only reason Emma took the weird promotion. She knew this corporate thing wasn’t going to last, so she was very happy that she could come back to her store and her family when it burned out. She really had no idea what Snow saw in her and she was pretty sure that Snow didn’t run the new position past any of the other higher up executives. She couldn’t imagine she had one Regina Mill’s seal of approval for a promotion and a move to the corporate office.

“You’re not going to flunk out, they are going to love you,” Lily looked at Emma, tried for a small smile but failed. She grabbed a donut now too.

“Pretty sure I’ve already made one enemy. The Senior Vice-President hates me. I nearly shot her with an arrow, so you know,” Emma nervously rubbed the back of her neck.

“Hope it wasn’t the one you complain about all the time on the conference calls,” Lily calmed down enough to take a bite of her donut.

“That would be the one,” Emma looked back over to a wide-eyed Lily.

“Was it a Cupid’s arrow?” Lily smirked to her boss.

“Gawd no!” Emma practically yelled, a few people milling around the break room looked at her.

“Ooohhh, that was a very fast reaction. She’s hot right? I mean her voice sounds super smoky hot that one time I heard when you made me listen,” Lily continued munching on her donut.

“No…not at all…and I only made you listen to hear the shrillness in her voice,” Emma looked down and took a sip of coffee, not making eye contact; she didn’t trust her eyes. In her defense, just because someone is attractive, it does not mean you are attracted to them. Which was totally the case with that uppity Senior Vice President Mills.

“Damn, she’s hotter than hot,” Lily almost started laughing; she loved teasing her boss on the lack of her dating life. Since there was no reason for it, her boss was stunning, smart, caring, brilliant and hilarious.

“Do you not understand the words coming out of my mouth?”

“Yeah, but I can read subtext too.” Emma rolled her eyes to her assistant manager as she continued on. “I hope you get to work up close and personal with this not hot woman with the smoky sexy voice you nearly shot,” Lily smiled to her boss and then held back because she was really going to miss her.

Emma shook her head and looked at Lily. What was she going to do without her second in command in New York? And she hoped that she didn’t have to work up close and personal with the chilly stunning Senior Vice President because she couldn’t imagine a world where they would get along.

*****

It had been a few weeks and Regina was thankful she hadn’t actually seen one Emma Swan around the office yet. She thought the woman was probably in the process of relocating. The office had been quiet once again.

And then suddenly, it wasn’t anymore. There was a sporadic thumping against her office tent wall, it was loud, and it was maddening. What the hell could that be she thought? That office tent stayed vacant because so far Regina had nixed every employee that tried to occupy it.

Regina couldn’t stand the sound any more of something being thrown against her wall. It was annoying thumping that was beginning to create a migraine in her head or at the very least make it impossible to focus on the ad sales reports she had to go over.

She stood up from her desk and stormed off to see what was going on in the office tent next to hers. When she got to the open door, she saw Emma Swan sitting with her feet propped up on a desk and throwing and catching a ball repeatedly. She wore long boots with tight jeans once again, Regina wondered if the blonde owned any other types of clothes. And she had on the same garish red leather jacket. Regina scoffed, what kind of attire was this to wear to work, it was even worse than Snow’s yoga pants. The blonde had a look of fascination every time she caught the ball and then threw it back against the wall again.

“You do realize we share a wall,” Regina crossed her arms against her chest and glared at Emma from the entrance to her office tent.

The blonde was so startled she didn’t catch the ball after she threw it and it came back where it knocked over her lamp, crashing it to the floor.

“Oh, sorry. Can you hear it?” Emma winced with a playful smirk on her face. She was once again not winning any points with the super serious brunette woman.

“Why are you in this office?” Regina looked around the usual vacant office and noticed there were a few knick knacks now and some picture frames. “And why are you playing dodge ball in here?”

“This is my...uh...new office,” Emma had a smug grin.

“Right next door to my office?” Regina questioned with furrowed brows.

“Yes, it appears so,” Emma responded back.

Regina took a deep breath then stormed out of the office and headed straight to Snow’s office to demand why she put Emma right next door to her. What was wrong with the storage room? Or maybe just a desk in the lounge room? It wasn’t like Emma was going to be around for a long time. She predicted six months tops.

*****

The next few weeks, both women learned to avoid each other and also, begrudgingly work with each other in an amicable way as to avoid too many awkward or uncomfortable situations for their co-workers. It only took a week full of uncomfortable meetings, four visits from human resources and three Snow interventions to get there.

As much as most of the company didn’t want to interact with either of them one on one, pretty much the whole company did enjoy watching the two women interact with each other. Leroy started calling Regina and Emma, Remma because he said it was only a matter of time before they boned each other, killed each other or one of them quit. Ruby preferred the name Swills and didn’t want to admit she was the one that started the betting pool on when Regina and Emma would next get into a fight or make out. Ruby would also never admit her involvement in the shipping of co-workers to Snow or Emma and especially her crush Dorothy in human resources.

Regina couldn't quite figure out why Emma bugged her so much. And Emma learned mostly to stay out of Regina’s way and not to throw tennis balls against their shared wall anymore.

One night, Emma decided to stay late and brainstorm on which products she wanted to product test next for the videos. She wandered into the office break room and opened the communal refrigerator. She found a fancy container that read ‘RM – DO NOT TOUCH.’ Yes, she should have known better than to touch Regina Mill’s stuff, but she was just too curious what was in the jug like container. She opened the lid and took a long sniff. She was very surprised it smelled really wonderful and really alcoholic. Okay, now she had to taste it, so she grabbed a coffee mug from the drying rack. She took a sip and closed her eyes and let out a little out a moan.

“Oh, damn, that’s good,” Emma said as she filled up the mug completely with the delicious home brewed apple cider that she knew she should not be drinking, but it was one of the best things she had ever tasted.

Emma walked back to her office taking the whole container with her. She sat at her desk, refilled her borrowed coffee mug and started going through the database of products, this process was repeated way too many times.

The next thing Emma knew was that she heard a slam above her head and blinding light, she squeezed her eyes closed hard in pain. Her head was pounding. She pried open her eyes and saw the underside of her desk which meant she was sleeping under her desk. Thankfully, she had put her jacket under her head. She tried getting everything into focus, she slowly tried to sit up and the next thing she saw were classic chic black high heels attached to gorgeous toned legs. She ran her eyes up the long legs, tight skirt and into the glaring eyes of her COO.

“Morning, Miss Swan, this is quite the example you’re setting as a vice president,” Regina said in a cold, stern voice.

Emma very ungracefully pulled herself up from the floor and wobbled into her desk chair. Then her brain actually gave her useful information.

“Wait...today is Saturday. What are you doing here?” Emma gargled out, feeling like dry marbles were in her mouth. 

“I work every other Saturday when Henry has language classes around the corner,” it’s then that Regina spotted her container. “Miss Swan, did you actually steal my property from the refrigerator?”

Emma cringed. “I did, I’m so sorry. I was working late and I just wanted to try it then...that was one of the best things I have ever tasted. And I couldn’t stop myself.” She cringed with a sheepish look mixed in with sad puppy dog eyes to Regina. 

Regina couldn’t stop a blush from creeping up on her face, she did take pride in her apple cider, but she didn’t want Emma to think it was okay just to take her stuff. Her cheeks felt warm, her stomach flipped and her heart beat wildly her in chest. 

“Did you make that?”

“Yes, it’s a skill I picked up while I was pregnant.”

“I didn’t know brewing was a big hobby for pregnant women,” Emma gave a weak smile to Regina as she cradled her head, it was going to split open she was sure.

“I was making non-alcoholic apple cider, it eased my morning sickness,” Regina reached over and retrieved the container and began walking towards the hallway.

Even though Emma’s head was all foggy, she imagined a pregnant Regina and she liked that image.

“I’ve got meetings all day,” Regina got an evil glint in her eye. “Your presence is required in three of them. Ten minutes, my office.” She stared hard at Emma before exiting and slamming the door.

Emma grabbed her head in pain. After, Emma washed her face in the bathroom and grabbed some coffee from the break room; she joined Regina in her office for the meeting. She knew this was punishment because there were no meetings on her calendar until 9 minutes ago. She moved slowly to Regina’s office where she slumped in a chair waiting for the conference call to start. She closed her eyes for a second. Big pounding drums were going off in her head as she looked up to see Regina throwing a tennis ball back and forth against the wall. Emma winced in pain, feeling as if her head was the wall and the ball was bouncing off of it. It was a manufacturing call from one of their distributors overseas. Emma desperately wanted Regina to stop throwing the tennis ball back and forth. But she figured in the grand scheme of things, this punishment wasn’t too bad.

After, three more conference calls, Emma couldn’t take it anymore and she laid down on Regina’s floor. She used her arms as a pillow and moaned. At this point, Regina once again hit the mute button on the call.

“Regina, I beg you. I don’t know why you had such strong apple cider in the refrigerator that demolished me and I’m sorry I drank it but...please let me go home or buy me a very greasy burrito,” Emma whined into her arms.

Regina smirked watching the blonde in a heap of a mess on the floor.

“Fine, I’ll handle the rest of the meetings, go sleep off your hangover,” Regina resigned, but then before she could concentrate on the call again, she heard soft snoring coming from the floor. She stood and walked over to see Emma fast asleep on her office tent floor. She couldn’t help a small smile escape at the blonde passed out on her floor, she grabbed one of the SnowArcher blankets she kept in her office and draped it over Emma. She then returned to her calls, when it was time to leave Emma was still asleep so she left her a glass of water and a bag of chips from the break room vending machine next to her head as she closed her office tent door and left.

*****

When Regina walked into her office Monday morning, she saw that her desk was covered with baskets of apples, all kinds of different varieties.

Emma had thought maybe some sort of gesture of good will was in order after her hangover display on Saturday. She had bought bags of all kinds of apples to apologize to Regina for drinking her cider and then embarrassingly passing out on her office floor. Great going she thought to herself, pass out from an extreme hangover on your boss’s office floor. A hangover you got from stealing her booze, Emma almost worried she wouldn’t get her old store job if she kept making Regina mad. She got every variety of apples not knowing which one was Regina’s favorite.

Emma appeared at Regina’s office door, she leaned on the door frame.

“I peg you for either a Honeycrisp apple fan or Red Delicious, leaning more towards Red Delicious,” Emma said while taking a sip of her coffee. “I’m really sorry for my unprofessional behavior on Saturday.”

Regina turned around and watched Emma closely; she walked slowly towards the blonde.

“Honeycrisp is a stronger apple, it can survive temperatures as low as 40 below and keep growing, it can weather any storm,” Regina stared into Emma’s eyes, “I admire that stamina.”

Okay, so Emma thought, be more honeycrisp and less red delicious, note taken.

*****

Regina wasn’t happy about Snow’s decision to promote Emma and bring her to New York, but she was glad to see once again her boss wasn’t a complete moron in promoting Emma. The new vice president of whatever at times did have good ideas and wasn’t completely idiotic. Since Emma had spent the most time working in one of the SnowArcher stores of the corporate staff, she brought valuable and extremely useful information to the higher ups. Regina still wasn’t used to being in meetings with Emma and her tank tops or tight jeans and plaid roll up shirts. Why was the blonde intent on always showing off her muscular arms? Regina let out a little huff, it was distracting to everyone and poor office etiquette.

The office had been relatively quiet for the past few hours, which was a nice change since Emma came aboard. The blonde was just as bad as getting people loud and as excited as Snow. She wondered if Emma had gone home early. She hadn’t heard any hideous loud music from next door. No pounding of tennis balls against her wall. None of her special coffee creamer had been stolen today. Regina had gotten lost in her paperwork and realized she had promised Henry they could leave early to go home so she could make her favorite lasagna. Now she scolded herself it was after hours, no wonder it had gotten so quiet. She left Henry downstairs in the lounge area to do his homework a few hours ago; he had grown up at SnowArcher so the office was like a second home to him. She was surprised her son hadn’t come sooner to bother her to go home.

Regina opened the flap door to her tent office to see how he was doing, since the two hours she had closed it something drastically had changed. There were ropes now hanging from all the levels of the building. Emma Swan the blonde athletic idiot was yelling from somewhere, but Regina couldn’t tell where her voice was coming from. She looked down to the ground level and saw Henry standing smack in the middle of everything holding up a camera pointed at the ceiling. She followed the eye line and saw Emma all dressed up in gear sitting on a ledge near the ceiling of the high structure of their building.

“Henry! Are you ready?” Emma yelled down at Henry while also motioning with her hands.

Regina’s chest tightened. Why in the hell was that Emma Swan yelling at her son?

“Ready Emma!” Henry gleefully shouted back to Emma with a huge, excited grin on his face and also giving her the thumbs up signal.

Before Regina could yell at both of them, Emma grabbed one of the ropes that Regina could now tell was a zip line down to the ground level. The blonde jumped off the highest beam in the building and started descending rapidly towards Henry. Emma looked like she was going to smash right into Henry if she stayed the course.

“Henry!” Regina yelled as she watched in horror as Emma roughly and quickly glided towards her young son. Regina kicked off her high heels and ran for the stairs and jumped down steps two at a time trying to reach the ground level as fast as she could. She hiked up her skirt to run faster down the stairs.

As soon as Regina barreled out into the open area she saw Emma speeding closer and closer towards Henry.

“Henry move now!” Emma shouted at Henry as she got dangerously close to crashing into the small boy.

Henry jumped out of the way as he yelled, “Cool!”

Henry giggled as he watched Emma crashed down into a pile of blankets and pillows. He was beaming up at Emma. There was a loud groan and high pitch yelp as soon as the blonde hit the ground.

“I got it! Come look at it.” Henry pointed towards the camera as he waved enthusiastically at Emma.

Emma groaned and whined as she flopped around on the blankets and pillows. As soon as she turned over on her back, there was a sharp pressure on her chest. She opened her eyes to see Regina standing over her with her foot planted firmly in the middle of her chest. Rage was radiating off the woman’s body directed towards her. She winced as Regina leaned down more on her foot, applying more weight on her chest. Emma was just thankful Regina had taken her stiletto heels off or by now she would have punctured a lung. She was also thankful that Regina’s bare foot was planted firmly between her breasts or she would have been screaming by now. There’s nothing quite as painful as getting poked in the boob.

“Miss Swan, if you ever involve my son again in one of your stupid, idiotic videos…” Regina leaned over Emma further not realizing how much of her cleavage was on display for the star of the reckless videos. “…you will be in for a world of pain, do not underestimate me.”

“Yeah…sorry…” Emma groaned out. Her back was screaming, her chest was tightening but she couldn’t really tell if it was because Regina had her bare foot almost encased in her chest or because the stunning brunette was showing off most of her cleavage by leaning over Emma and her voice had gotten deeper and richer. Not to mention the intense eyes boring into her skull, then tracking up and down her body. Plus, a single pronounced vein, prominent on Regina's forehead, made the stunning fierce woman even more smoldering. Emma scolded her libido for perking up now of all times, what about earlier when that cute barista flirted with her or that foxy woman on the subway, she thought. Nope. It had to be this woman whose son you nearly endangered and now wants your head displayed on these walls along with all the sporting goods equipment. This is the time your libido decides to rear its horny head, just great she thought.

Regina lifted her foot up slowly and pushed back down applying more pressure as she twisted her foot on Emma’s chest. Suddenly, in a swift move Regina jabbed her foot into Emma’s left breast as she removed her foot from her chest. Emma immediately cried out in a loud yelp and doubled over in pain.

“Oh god!” Emma grabbed her left breast and took deep breaths. “AHHHHuuughghhhhhh…oh god that hurt so bad,” more wailing and deep breaths and frantically rubbing over her breast. “Okay….oohhhhhh…I might have deserved that…damn…omg…ahhhhh.” She rolled over in pain and continued to rub her breast. Her face was contorted in pain as her breast ached in agony from the harsh jab.

“Nice meeting you Emma,” even Henry winced in pain at the boob jab, his new friend definitely looked like she was in pain. “See you tomorrow!” Henry sat the camera down near Emma before his mother pulled him away.

Regina grabbed Henry’s hand and dragged him away and back up to her office with an intense scary look on her face. There was no way that Emma Swan was getting within a ten-foot radius of her son ever again. She will kick her other breast if she comes close.


	3. Special Guest

Emma wandered the office halls the next day, she paced back and forth in front of Snow’s office. She took a deep breath then gave a soft knock on Snow’s door.

“Emma, hi! What’s going on, are you settling in okay?” Snow looked up from her computer with a bright smile for her newest employee.

Emma slowly entered the office and gently lowered herself into one of the chairs in front of Snow’s desk.

“Hypothetically, if you made your Chief Operating Officer really mad, like vein popping out on her forehead mad. How would you go about…” Emma scrunched up her nose, “…making her less murderous? While possibly saving your breasts at the same time.”

Snow stared at Emma wide-eyed a little speechless, she didn’t know what happened but making Regina mad on her first month was not a good course of action for Emma.

“What happened?” Snow tilted her head and waited for Emma to explain.

“I thought I would test out the new SnowArcher rock climbing rope kit and I met this great kid hanging out bored and asked him if he wanted to record it for me since everybody had already gone home for the day…” Emma swayed back and forth on her feet nervously while she stared at Snow, “…the kid was never in danger but maybe from a certain vantage point it looked like he was.”

“Oh, no…” Snow nodded and had a very serious expression. She could tell where this story was going and which kid this involved. “Henry is Regina’s world.”

Emma shifted uncomfortably in her chair in front of Snow’s desk and then laid her head down in a defeated posture.

“I didn’t think how it would look. Everything was perfectly safe. I would never put a kid in danger…” Emma said, “…it just looked that way to an overprotective controlling scary mama bear.”

“You’ve had a productive week,” Snow smiled at Emma, then tilted her head. “I’ll talk to Regina.” She reached over and rubbed Emma’s arm. “See if I can smooth things over with her.”

“I don’t know…wouldn’t that make it worse?” Emma’s whole face scrunched up. “I don’t want her to think I can’t clean up my own messes.”

Snow was impressed that Emma noticed something so deeply about Regina and that she cared. Most of the office just tried to avoid Regina, although they did appreciate her witty, snarky remarks sometimes scathing and a little bit mean spirited. Leroy never failed to laugh the loudest when Regina insulted someone.

“I’ll get you an intern to help,” Snow smiled warmly, she stood up and walked over to where Emma was sitting. “Don’t worry, everything will be fine.”

Emma took a deep breath as she looked up at the big honcho boss; there was something so soothing about her. Snow had to come up with a plan of action to ease up the tension between her and the COO, also to possibly save her boobs.

*****

Over the next few days, Emma tried some little things to smooth things over and to get on Regina’s better side. Not her ‘good’ side because Emma knew that was probably a lost cause at this point. She doubted the woman would ever tolerate her since in the short span of time they had known each other she had tried to gravely injure both her and her son by accident.

Her first idea was getting Regina the best coffee in all of Brooklyn. She researched until she found one with the best reviews. She woke up early, trekked over there from her rented room in Queens, which was not the easiest commute. She waited by the office main entrance until the COO waltzed gracefully through the door. Regina surprisingly, took a sip of the coffee and remarked the coffee had an unsavory burnt aftertaste. Emma noticed however, that Regina kept the coffee as she walked up to her office and closed her office tent door.

Another day, Regina found two bottles of very expensive wine on her desk; one red and one white with a note attached that read, ‘I didn’t know if you were a red or white girl.’ Then the next day, a very expensive bottle of scotch was waiting for her at her desk with a note attached, ‘Dawned on me, you might be a more refined palette girl.’ And the next day, a basket of assorted chocolates ranging from very expensive chocolate candies to a few grocery store candy bars with another note, ‘You might like high and low maintenance chocolate.’

Regina let a slight grin spread over her face, she wondered if Emma had intentionally quoted one of her favorite movies. She reached over and took one of the Hershey’s bars out, unwrapped it and took a few bites. She rolled her eyes and shook her head. At least the idiot had good taste in food, movies and alcohol.

One day Regina had a meeting and wasn’t available when Henry arrived after school at the office. What she didn’t know was that her son was pretty crafty these days when he hung out at SnowArcher Inc headquarters. He entered through the back entrance then went looking around until he found a certain blonde, usually not in her office. They had played a few games of catch on the office outdoor patio, along with a few games of ping-pong, some video games and even worked on his homework several times. Every time, Henry heard his mom yell for him, he would take off running, waving a quick goodbye to Emma.

Emma loved hanging out with Henry; he was the sweetest and smartest kid she had ever met. Regina must be a phenomenal mom to be raising such an amazing kid. She was bummed at herself that she was hiding this from Regina and she knew in the back of her head that was not a way to get on the COO’s better side, yet she couldn’t help pushing her work aside whenever Henry found her after school. And she knew Henry was not telling his mom who he was hanging out with. She knew this was going to bite her in the ass later, but the woman already hated her so what more could happen.

One evening, after most of the company went home, Henry sat in Regina’s office where his mom was still working. He glanced up and looked over at his mom. “Is Emma still here?” Henry stood up and wandered out into the hallway. He thought maybe since it had been a few weeks he could ease his mom into talking to Emma again.

“Probably,” Regina didn’t look up from her papers.

“I’m going to go find her,” Henry was almost gone from the doorway.

“No, you’re not,” Regina looked up this time. “Let’s go out to dinner tonight, sound good?”

“Yeah! Can we get pizza?” Henry nearly yelled.

“No, we just had pizza Sunday night. Let’s go a little healthier,” Regina said as she shuffled and organized papers on her desk.

They both gathered up their belongings, Regina turned off her office light and they stepped out into the hallway. They could see Emma sitting at her desk working on her laptop. Before Regina could warn Henry, he took off and walked into Emma’s office, Regina rolled her eyes.

“What are you eating for dinner?” Henry walked around Emma’s desk to see what she was working on.

“I don’t know, I’ll probably grab something on the way home.” Emma smiled warmly at Henry.

“We’re having something healthy,” Henry said the word ‘healthy’ with such disdain he might as well have spit on the floor showing his true disgust.

“Henry Daniel Mills, you like Veggie Foodies. You love their cauliflower onion rings and their carrot fries.” Regina glared at her son. “You said the acai bowls were like ice cream.”

“Like ice cream, but it’s not ice cream,” Henry scrunched up his nose and looked to his mom then Emma.

Emma watched the two of them not knowing if she should turn away or not, yet she was really enjoying watching this mother and son duo.

“Do you like mac and cheese?” asked Henry as he looked at Emma with wide eyes.

“I live for mac and cheese. It’s one of the greatest things on earth,” Emma leaned back in her chair. She was giving up on any semblance of work for the rest of the night. She was starving now with all this talk of food.

“You gotta come have this healthy mac and cheese, see what you think,” Henry stared at Emma with hopeful eyes.

Emma looked at Regina, who raised her eyebrows. And Emma could see Regina’s forehead vein popping out. She really needed to not stare at it and she really needed her brain not to catalogue that forehead vein as super hot. She shook her head after Regina tilted her head in a challenging gesture.

“Rain check kid,” Emma smiled weakly at Henry.

“No, I know that means it will never happen,” Henry said in a somewhat whiny tone, letting his true age show.

Regina sighed, took a long deep breath while closing her eyes briefly then opening them again to look over at Emma. “Would you care to join us for dinner Miss Swan?”

*****

Emma was surprised to find herself having dinner with Regina and Henry. She sat next to the sweet, smart kid while his mom sat across from them in a trendy, yet laid back veggie restaurant in Brooklyn, just a few blocks over from work. She wondered if all her gifts were softening Regina towards her. The dinner turned out to be quite pleasant with Henry telling stories of school and both women smiling, enjoying the tales of middle school.

After Henry had indeed finished off a plate of carrot fries he pulled out some drawings and pages of notes for future videos from his backpack.

Emma looked over all the papers surprised and smiled. “I didn’t realize this was a business dinner.”

“It’s not,” Regina glared at Henry and said in a stern voice. “Henry, what are you doing?”

“I had some ideas for your new videos,” Henry leaned over to show Emma some of his notes and drawings.

Regina leaned across the table to scoop up the papers. “You are not Miss Swan’s new intern, he arrives tomorrow.”

“He does?” This was news to Emma. She looked over to Regina who turned a few degrees colder; Henry’s enthusiasm for the videos was not going to sit well with Regina. 

Henry excused himself and went to the bathroom, leaving the two women in an awkward silence. They both sat across from each other, Emma repeatedly kept drinking her water and Regina pretended to clean up the table. 

“So…do you enjoy being on the internet?” Regina blurted out a question she had been curious about for a while about Emma. 

Emma grimaced and put her water glass down yet kept one hand wrapped around it. “No, not at all. It was just a fluke, something fun for my staff to do, it seemed to bring up morale and get them strangely more motivated for work,” she ran fingers up and down the glass. “I somehow got roped into being in the videos. I’m open to finding a new host.” 

Regina was surprised by this answer, she liked this answer but not because she didn’t think Emma was a good host or tester, whatever she called herself. She liked that Emma didn’t seem to be out for the fame of it. 

“Do you ever respond to people’s comments on the videos?” Regina had noticed that Emma got tons of comments from all kinds of admirers and quite possibly stalkers or some sort. Again, she had no idea why so many people were watching product-testing videos for sporting goods. Then she looked again at the woman sitting across from her and she knew why. 

“No, I don’t do social media much. I let Alice handle all of it. That social media stuff seems like one big cocktail party to me and I’m not good at cocktail parties,” Emma took a sip of water, her throat went really dry. 

“You don’t like cocktail parties?” Regina’s eyebrows rose up, she thought Emma would have been into parties and getting drunk; the woman clearly liked her apple cider enough to drink an entire container in one night. 

“Not a fan of cocktails…I prefer clittails more,” Emma brought her eyes up to stare at Regina, she thought why the hell not. She wanted to see her reaction, to see which party Regina might enjoy more or maybe both. 

Regina choked on her drink she just taken a slip of, her face got all red and her stomach felt like a swarm of butterflies were fighting. 

Emma grinned watching Regina a tad flummoxed. The brunette put her glass down and dabbed at the corner of her mouth with a napkin. Regina glanced up briefly and looked into Emma’s eyes before darting away again. 

Emma thought she better change the subject quickly to give her boss a break and before she did something embarrassing, “How about dessert?”

They left the restaurant with no dessert much to the disappointment of Emma and Henry; they started walking down the street. Emma had no idea where they were going; she was just following Regina and Henry. They walked past an ice cream store and both Emma and Henry gravitated towards the store front.

“Mom, can we get a tiny scoop of ice cream please?” Henry stared wide eyed at his mom.

Emma was impressed; this kid knew how to ask for stuff from a strict mom. Start tiny.

“We did eat all our veggies and we even drank that shot of wheatgrass…bleh,” Emma made a small gagging noise. Henry giggled, completely agreeing with his new friend.

Regina stood bewildered looking at her son and the woman who just a few months ago she only knew as an Internet nuisance. They both looked now to be related with their pleading faces for frozen dairy products. She shook her head and walked into the ice cream store, two grinning faces following behind her. They each got a scoop of ice cream as they continued walking down the street.

A few streets over, they finally stopped in front of a pretty brownstone, Emma looked up impressed.

“Is this your house?” Emma asked wide eyed, so this is where the COO lives, she thought; now if things go really bad she knew which brownstone she would be toilet papering.

“Bye Emma, see you tomorrow,” Henry waved to Emma and then disappeared into the house after Regina unlocked the front door.

Both women stood awkwardly looking at each other after Henry had deserted them once again, leaving them alone with each other.

“Yes. I’m guessing you don’t live in this borough?” Regina turned back and stared at Emma, who awkwardly stuck her hands in her jean pockets.

“It was hard finding a place to live. I’m renting a room in Queens right now,” Emma commented, she wasn’t that fond of the commute every day. Boston wasn’t easy either; this was how she got so much reading done. Plus, she figured renting a room was an easy exit strategy if she failed the corporate world quickly or wanted to go home. “I’m pretty low rent, the best kind of woman is low maintenance.”

“Well, Miss Swan I might be the worst kind of woman,” Regina stared hard at Emma.

“You think you’re low maintenance and you’re really high maintenance?” Emma smiled quoting one of her favorite movies.

Regina nodded and let a little laugh slip out, “No, I know I’m high maintenance. And I believe Ingrid Bergman made the right, practical choice getting on the plane.” Touché Miss Swan, Regina thought, that’s one of my favorite movies, and she can’t out quote me on it.

“You don’t have days of the weeks underwear, do you?” Emma wanted to slap herself. Why oh why would her brain mention what kind of underwear Regina wears.

“No, that is where Sally Albright and I part ways,” Regina’s cheeks got a slight nice shade of pink while staring at Emma. Why did she all of sudden feel like she was on a date? That this insufferable woman had sneakily been wooing her with all these gifts and then now with the help of her ungrateful son scored a date. No, this was not a date. She forced herself not to look at Emma’s lips and wonder what they might feel, and taste like against hers. These were very conflicting thoughts swirling around in her head. Clearly, it was just that she hadn’t been on a date in so long that she was confusing a date with an attractive co-worker outing.

Emma stuck her hands in her jean pockets; she leaned back on the balls of her feet and got a little breathless staring at Regina. Why did all of sudden did she feel like she was on some sort of family date. She didn’t want to keep looking at Regina because she knew her eyes were going to betray her and focus on the most delectable, delicious lips she had ever seen in her life. Before she could say anything more to embarrass herself or do something, she heard her name being called.

“Hey! You Emma?” A guy leaning out a car window yelled at the two women standing on the stoop of the brownstone.

“I ordered you a car service since you were walking us home. I figured you probably lived further away,” Regina didn’t mean for that to come out quite as snotty as it did.

“Oh…thanks,” Emma was surprised by the gesture. And yeah, there was no way she was living anywhere near these nice brownstones.

“See you tomorrow at work Miss Swan,” Regina opened her front door but didn’t walk all the way in yet.

“See you at work tomorrow Miss Mills.” She smiled as she walked away from Regina and towards the car service. She could feel eyes shooting daggers into her back. What she can’t call Regina, Miss Mills?

*****

The following weeks were going by pretty great Emma thought. She was getting along with Regina somewhat and she was learning the corporate ropes. And she had her own intern now, Owen. He didn’t seem to know that much more about social media than she did. What she did know about was their products, that was her strong suit and it always had been when she made the videos with Alice and the rest of her staff. She realized that Henry had much better ideas than Owen. Henry thought they should call each new video by a code name, like Operation Boots or Operation New Arrow set. Regina had even allowed for Henry to have several meetings with Emma to discuss his ideas. Emma also had to have meetings with the design team, the publicity team and corporate communications team; Henry meetings were always the most fun.

On the way to work one morning though, Emma realized a few people were staring at her on the streets and subway.

“You better take care of those boobs girl,” said one woman that stood next to Emma on the subway.

That didn’t feel like a pick up line. Neither did quite a few other things she thought she heard said to her as she walked the Brooklyn streets.

Regina was having an odd morning as well, she thought she kept hearing people talk or yell to her on the streets as she walked to work. She stopped to get coffee. When she went to pick up her coffee a young man came up to her and stood too close.

“You can walk all over me any time, with the heels ON,” he smiled at Regina as she glared at him and moved around him to retrieve her coffee and leave the café.

She got a few text messages, she opened one that had a link. The vein popped out on her forehead and she walked faster to work.

Emma had just arrived at the office when Regina walked in behind her.

“SWWWAAAAN!” Regina yelled, she glared at Emma grinding her teeth together.

Emma looked like a scared kid caught doing something very wrong.

*****

Emma, Regina, Ruby and Snow stood around the conference room table. They stared at an open laptop.

“Okay, how did the video get posted?” asked Snow with a concerned look on her face.

“I don’t know. I didn’t post it,” Emma looked at Snow then briefly looked at Regina, who in return glared back at her. “You gotta believe me.”

Regina sighed, shook her head and didn’t look over to Emma.

“Where was the footage located?” Ruby asked this question, trying to figure out how Emma’s practice video got posted.

“It was on the camera the IT guy gave me, then I gave it to Owen to log…” Emma started rambling.

The four women sat quiet for a moment. It didn’t take them long to figure out that the culprit was Owen.

“How did the video get so popular so quickly?” Snow asked

“It was just posted last night it looks like,” Emma stared at her phone, afraid to look over at Regina.

“Looks like a morning talk show played it as a funny video of the week,” Ruby scoured the internet for clues.

Emma cringed. “How does this look….uhhhh…on the company?” She wondered how Regina came off in the video.

“Well, looks like we have another Internet star,” Ruby smiled and looked at Regina. “People seem to love Regina. The good comments far outweigh the bad and mostly everyone wants to…shall we say…see more of her.”

Regina, Emma and Snow turned their heads to Ruby as she scrolled through comments on the YouTube page.

“See, someone says,” Ruby started reading off some of the Youtube comments.  
‘She can put her hot ass foot on my tits any time’  
‘I want her to crush my soul’  
‘I NEED her to step on me’

“Need is in all caps,” Ruby kept scrolling through and reading as Regina pursed her lips and squinted her eyes at Emma. “Wow, there are so many comments already, ‘She can walk on my di…” Ruby stopped reading the comments, “You get the gist.”

“People are complete twits,” Regina leaned over then crossed her arms against her chest.

“Maybe Regina can be a co-host?” Snow offered.

“Absolutely not,” Regina turned her head and glared at her boss.

“People would love that...there are so many comments about the two of you...being together,” Ruby kept scrolling and holding down giggles, she tried very hard to stay professional while reading comments of wanting to see Regina and Emma having sex.

“What?” Both Regina and Emma say at the same time, then glanced at each other then looked away.

“Yeah, look here,” Ruby pointed to more comments being posted all the time on the video, “They need to kiss now’, ‘I bet their babies are beautiful’ and ‘Imagine the sex between those two’ then many GIFS of explosions added,” Ruby pointed to the screen again. Then a giggle escaped Ruby’s lips. “Oh, nice. The classic Blanche Devereaux water bottle GIF.”

Ruby turned the laptop so Emma, Regina and Snow could see the Golden Girl spraying herself because something was too sexy hot to handle.

Emma’s cheeks went red, a warm flush flooding through her entire body. Did it actually come off on the video that she might like Regina? That she wanted to make out with Regina? If anything, it was just a silly crush like attraction; she thought Regina was the most stunning woman she had ever seen. She started biting her fingernails while staring at the screen and watching more and more comments get posted and seeing the view count go up very high. She didn’t dare look over at Regina at the moment.

Regina could not fathom at all how people of the Internet would write a comment about her and Emma being together? That was completely preposterous; the Internet was truly a wasteland if that was what people were doing with their time she thought. Random observers saw an attraction between her and Emma? People wanted to watch them kiss? She thought, that Emma was probably considered attractive; the woman was certainly in shape. She had a very nice athletic shape to her. Her annoying golden locks were indeed pretty and she had wondered what they might feel like if she ran her fingers through them. And she wondered what it would feel like to have Emma’s tongue slip into her mouth. Okay, so it was just a physical attraction since she hadn’t had sex in awhile and Emma was good looking and in close proximity. What puzzled and worried her was if this absurd temporary attraction was visible to her co-workers and now possibly to the world. She needed to suppress that imagery and urge and push it far down in the recesses of her psyche. And possibly start dating people again, preferably ones that are not her direct report.

“Regina, you might need to be in at least one video,” Snow looked over to Regina. “People seemed to really have taken to you.” She stared at Regina who glared back at her, Snow then briefly glanced to Emma. “And to…you two…together.” She added the last part carefully.

“I’m not sure how people are getting that?” Emma said looking over Ruby’s shoulder and continuing to read more comments and cringe. She sneaked a glance over to Regina who just stepped into the hallway to take a phone call. “I mean who watches company product testing videos for the…”

“Shipping?” Ruby was grinning like crazy, she leaned back in her chair and whispered to Emma, “Because you two have such thick sexual tension you need a chainsaw to cut through it.” She nearly giggled watching the blonde’s eyes go wide and rub the back of her neck nervously.

Emma couldn’t figure out what Regina was talking about in the hallway on her phone, but she looked really angry. Suddenly, Regina stormed back into the conference room and stared so fiercely at Emma, as if she could throw fireballs at the blonde. Regina stomped up to Emma with her forehead vein popping and nostrils flaring.

“This is all your fault,” Regina said in a slow, deep tone as close to Emma’s face as she could get. “That was Henry’s prospective high school, they won’t interview us now. I wonder why.”

Regina stared so hard into Emma’s eyes that the blonde nervously licked her lips and twisted her fingers together.

“Henry’s high school? Isn’t he ten?” Emma asked nervously, that Regina stare left almost a flaming mark.

“Do you have any idea how hard it is to get into a good high school?” Regina fumed.

Emma squirmed under Regina’s scary staring.

“Snow, I think this is a termination offense,” Regina looked so angry that she was going to throw fire with her hands. 

Snow turned and stared stunned at Regina with her mouth open.

“Regina! This wasn’t Emma’s fault,” Snow proclaimed loudly.

“Yes, it was,” Regina glared at Emma.

“I didn’t post the video, that intern Owen did without asking,” Emma stood her ground.

“YOU gave him the camera,” Regina got up in Emma’s face. Then turned around.

Emma took this chance to sit back down again; some of the color drained from her face. “To log footage, that’s all. I never told him to upload anything,” Emma slumped back in her chair defeated. Regina was never going to forgive her for this mistake she didn’t even make.

“One thing is for sure, Owen is fired. Robyn just finished her semester at school, she’s Emma’s new intern for the summer,” Regina demanded.

Emma turned her head back to look at Snow and Regina.

“Don’t I get to pick my own intern? I wanted to bring Alice from my store for the summer, she started the videos…” Emma stopped when Regina looked like she was indeed going to throw something at her. “Robyn got it.”

Regina made a dismissive gesture towards Emma.

“You’re on thin ice Miss Swan,” Regina gave Emma one last death stare before she exited the conference room.

“Robyn is Regina’s niece,” Snow said while rubbing Emma’s arm. “You didn’t ruin Henry’s life.”

“Is that a real possibility?” Emma asked with a scrunched up face.


	4. Camp Storybrooke

After a few frosty weeks between the COO and her new VP, Snow decided that some friendly intervention needed to happen between the two women. The office staff while at first enjoyed the gossip and barbs between the two women whenever they were in a meeting together or shared the same hallway, were actually growing tired of the ongoing tension. Regina was still furious over the leaked video and possible destruction of Henry’s life, as she calls it, by not getting into her choice of high school. No matter what Emma did, things didn’t seem to be able to be cordial between the two of them. So Snow decided to make a mandatory work lunch for the three of them together. Nothing like a forced work lunch to bring people together.

The three women sat awkwardly eyeing each other at the same low-key vegetarian restaurant where Regina, Henry, and Emma had shared a really pleasant meal a few months ago. Emma and Snow were having plant based burgers with carrot fries while Regina had a traditional kale salad. Emma at times really missed the heavier fatty foods of Boston, yet she appreciated trying new foods even if they were better for her. However, Emma missed all the clam chowder, lobsters, and real fries; she never had so many carrot fries since moving to New York.

“Did you hear Gold is trying to clean up their image with charity work?” Snow broke the slightly uncomfortable silence.

“That snake thinks he can buy anything or make a deal with anyone,” Regina said with such disdain as she put her fork down harshly on her dish, causing a loud clatter.

Emma looked between the two women slightly confused. “Are you talking about Gold Sporting Goods?”

“Yes, dear, the competition. Keep up,” Regina said in a condensing tone to Emma.

“You know…” Emma started off before Regina interrupted her.

“No, dear we don’t know because thankfully we don’t live inside your head,” Regina said in a mocking tone, she loathed gibberish modern lingo at times. If Emma used ‘like’ a lot, they were going to have even more problems.

Snow gave Emma a warm smile and encouraged her on. “What were you about to say?”

“I had an idea actually, that I wanted to ask you about. It’s kind of the reason I took this job,” Emma turned to Snow and had a hopeful look on her face.

“Not the enormous pay bump or becoming an Internet star for seven minutes,” Regina interjected with a snide glare.

“Regina, please,” Snow warned Regina and gave her a stern look that also implied ‘let’s keep it civil.’

Emma sighed; she gave a glare to Regina. She was getting close to being done being nice to this pain in the ass woman. Who for some reason wore intensely tight skirts and blouses every day to work, it was distracting to everybody. There was no reason for this corporate woman to wear such low cut blouses. Did she have any idea how hard it was not to stare at her cleavage all the time? It was like staring into the sun, you know you shouldn’t do it because it’s harmful then the warmth and radiating view lures your eyes and doesn’t let go. Not that Regina’s cleavage was on Emma’s mind or that it was distracting to her, she was thinking of the other people in the office. Emma shook her head to shake Regina’s cleavage from her mind; she took in a deep breath and prayed for focus back on the business lunch. Her first corporate business lunch and here she was thinking about one of her boss’s boobs, but only because said boss strategically put them on display to undermine everyone. That was one of Emma’s theories about Regina. And it would help if said boss hadn’t jabbed her foot on her boob. And then had people on the Internet commenting on how both of them should be touching each other’s boobs. Okay train of thought completely derailed.

“I was hoping one day that SnowArcher would be interested in creating an outreach sports program or perhaps an outdoors program for foster kids.” Emma said quickly and then watched Snow for a reaction.

Snow smiled even bigger at Emma. Regina watched them skeptically.

“I think that sounds like a wonderful idea,” Snow reached over and grabbed Emma’s hand to squeeze it.

Regina tried to gain control of the lunch; however, after Emma suggested the idea of creating outdoors programs for kids, that was all Snow wanted talk about. She decided to stay quiet and eat her salad. It wasn’t a terrible idea and she had a similar proposal on the books for a few years, there was just never enough money to finance a program. And now thanks to the influx of sales to those stupid videos, SnowArcher could accomplish it. Score one for the blonde idiot Regina thought. She was still furious with Emma for being a part of the asinine viral video, where people kept comparing her to Miranda Priestly and Emma to Andy. And she was even more furious with the blonde for ruining her chances at the prestigious high school for Henry. It didn’t help that Henry kept asking why he couldn’t hang out with Emma any more. Regina had signed up Henry for a few after school programs, preventing him from being around the office so much in the afternoon.

*****

“Hey…” Regina tried to be as casual and polite as possible as she stood in the doorway of Emma’s office.

“Hey,” Emma didn’t look up from her laptop. “Am I being too loud? Did I drink some of your apple cider again? Breathe the wrong way?”

Regina rolled her eyes.

“No,” Regina slowly walked into Emma’s tent office. “I thought about what you said the other day at lunch.”

Emma looked up at Regina curiously, she wondered if the woman was playing her for some office scheme.

“About helping kids with sports or outdoor programs,” Regina repeated part of the lunch conversation from Emma’s idea. “Doing something philanthropic.”

“Are you sure you were thinking of maybe malevolenthropic instead?” Emma glanced up with a blank expression towards Regina.

“Do you want to hear my idea or not?’ Regina sighed.

Emma almost wanted to laugh, this woman had a short fuse and as maddening at times as it was it was also kind of cute in a scary creature way, like a mogwai turning into a gremlin cute. She leaned back in her chair and motioned with her hands for Regina to continue, she put her hands behind her head.

“There’s this summer camp in upstate New York that would probably be open to the idea of letting us commandeer one of its sessions, maybe we could fund a trip for some kids?” Regina said softly, not in her usual crisp, always confident voice.

“Like SnowArcher camp? We could sponsor the whole thing?” Emma replied back with a skeptical tone.

“And…hopefully get some publicity to outshine Gold,” Regina explained further. 

“Of course,” Emma sighed.

“And give a lot of kids some great summer outdoor fun memories, but yes also publicity,” Regina had regained some of her harshness now. “I was thinking we could maybe work together and present this idea to the board and Snow.”

“You don’t need me,” Emma stared into Regina’s eyes.

“Yes…I do,” Regina fidgeted with her hands. “It was basically your idea.” She walked further into the office to stand right in front of Emma’s desk. “Think of me what you will, but I don’t steal ideas. This was a joint idea, we’ll present it…together,” Regina said the ‘together’ as if it really did pain her to say it.

*****

“SnowArcher Camp, I love it.” Snow smiled and beamed at both Regina and Emma. “Wonderful idea!” She put one hand on Emma’s arm and the other on Regina’s arm. “I knew you two would be a great team.”

Regina and Emma looked at Snow like she was crazy.

“It’s actually called Camp Granny’s…” Emma said before Regina finished her sentence. “It’s Ruby’s Grandmother’s camp.”

“But maybe we could temporarily rebrand it,” Regina offered, she saw Emma squint her eyes at her.

“Do we have to rebrand everything? Can’t we go with the original name?” Emma asked in an exasperated tone.

“No, we can’t call it Camp Granny’s, that’s a terrible name,” Regina snapped back to Emma.

“Hey, c’mon. It’s been Camp Granny’s for like 30 years. Gran has never gotten any complaints,” Ruby offered. “Okay, she has but she won’t budge on the name. Well, she might for the right price.” She smiled thinking of her opportunistic and smart Gran.

“So I guess Camp SnowArcher then for one of her summer sessions?” Emma said with a grimace on her face.

“I don’t know, perhaps,” Regina said, she leaned over the conference table in deep thought.

Emma did not want to look at Regina’s arms as she leaned on the long table or how her low cut blouse revealed the tip of her cleavage. Nope, she only glanced a few times and then averted her eyes.

“I would love for the camp to be about sports and the outdoors of course,” Snow paused and stood up from her chair, “but I would also love to share my other passion with the kids… stories.”

“Stories?” Regina raised her eyebrows as she squinted her eyes at Snow.

“Yes, stories. Is there anyone here that hasn’t been helped by a story?” Snow paced the room, touching people’s shoulders as she walked past them. “A story that has brightened your life? A story to get through the day or a tough moment?” She stopped to stand behind Regina’s chair and put hands on her shoulders.

Regina pinched the bridge of her nose. Emma watched Snow’s affection with Regina, so maybe she had been wrong to get all mad every time Regina cut Snow off on those conference calls; she could see now the two women did actually get along and were perhaps friends. She already knew Snow was warm and open with everyone and she was glad to see Regina not even flinch when Snow touched her. Still, there was no reason for the COO to be so uppity all the time.

“Like just stories in general?” Emma offered trying to help and see where Snow was going. “Or a movie or TV show?”

“Stories are in our DNA. They help us navigate life. They enrich our lives. They give us hope.” Snow squeezed Regina’s shoulders.

Regina rolled her eyes. Her boss loved to give speeches about hope and inspiration and damn it; begrudgingly Snow was good at giving hope speeches.

“So we do sports during the day and tell stories at night?” Emma questioned.

“Yes, that would work,” Snow beamed as she paced back and forth in the conference room. “Maybe we could offer classes too? Not just writing classes but business classes and art classes.”

“Storybrooke,” Regina said without realizing she said it out loud.

“Regina! Yes!” Snow pointed at her. “I love it. Camp Storybrooke.” Snow stared at her friend and COO with heart eyes.

Emma looked at both and shook her head. She had no idea how you jumped from Camp Granny’s to Camp Storybrooke.

Ruby looked up from her phone and stopped everything.

“Oh my gawd, you’re not going to believe this,” Ruby walked over to Snow and grabbed her attention while her eyes were glued to her phone. “Gold is already trying to steal our thunder once again.”

“What?” Regina asked already on the verge of an angry explosion, this happened when Gold’s name was mentioned.

“Gold just tweeted that his company is hosting a camp for underprivileged kids. And guess what, it’s the camp across the lake from Camp Granny’s.”

“That bastard,” Regina slammed her hand down on the conference table.

“He’s one strategic bastard that’s for sure,” Snow sat back down in her chair and got lost in thought. Then she perked up. “You two!” She pointed to Regina and Emma excitedly. “You will both go and help run our camp, our Camp Storybrooke. Regina, nobody runs a group like you. Emma, shoot as many videos as you can. Tweep, gram it, chatty and facebook it as much as you can.”

Ruby learned over to Emma and whispered, “I think she means Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat and the evil that shall not speak its name.”

Emma scrunched up her face, but reluctantly nodded back to Ruby.

“Snow, my time is better spent here in the office not babysitting some kids. And certainly not babysitting Emma,” Regina glared at Snow then added an even more heated glare to Emma.

Emma rolled her eyes. No need replying back to the uncalled for remark from Regina. If anyone needed babysitting outdoors she thought, it was Regina. How was this woman going to cope at all without her city amenities?

“I think it would do you some good to get outdoors, really see how our products and philosophy is affecting and helping people. Plus, you can take Henry,” Snow smiled warmly at Regina. “Think of the fun you and Henry can have. When was the last time you and Henry went out of the city? Kayaking, hiking, swimming in the lake…” Snow had a dopey look on her face like she was talking about an old lover.

Regina stared at Snow as if she had gone insane. Kayaking? She wasn’t going kayaking; she had never gone kayaking and hoped never to go kayaking. She had zero interest in swimming in a lake and possibly getting a tick or some other nature rash.

“Sounds fun,” Emma loved the idea of getting to spend two weeks outdoors hanging out with kids, just as long as she didn’t have to spend too much time with Regina. Unless, Regina was going to wear tank tops and khaki shorts. Wait, what? What was her brain thinking about? She wanted to slam her head against the conference table for thinking of Regina in a tank top. She did agree with Regina on one thing, the uptight fussy, super sassy extreme diva would be better off staying in the plentiful amenities filled office and not the unpredictable, scrappy camp life.

Regina looked shocked and confused. Why did she have to go to upstate New York and live in the woods with smelly kids for two weeks, hasn’t she been punished enough sharing a tent office wall with Emma Swan.

“We will all go!” Snow declared with cheers around the room.

Regina looked to her boss with a completely bewildered horrified face.

“Snow, we all can’t leave the office for two weeks. Who’s going to run the company?” Regina asked.

“You’re right,” Snow looked around the room. “Archie, you’re in charge for two weeks.”

The auburn haired man reached up and nervously adjusted his glasses.

Regina gaped at Snow with her mouth open.

Regina looked like she was in pain and Emma looked completely confused.

“Snow, I strongly feel I should stay here and oversee the office,” Regina tried again with her boss.

“Regina, I think the fresh air will do you some good. Just make sure you don’t get any ticks,” Snow offered up to the whole room then she focused on Regina.

“The mosquitos are rough there too,” Ruby spoke up while glancing around the room.

Then the whole room burst into all kinds of precautions to take while camping, all pertaining to bugs.

“Fire ants, you don’t want fire ant bites,” Archie said while leaning back in his chair.

Several people agreed and nodded their heads.

“There might be bed bugs,” Dorothy said while stealing a glance at Ruby.

“Hey! Granny doesn’t have bed bugs,” Ruby glared at Dorothy, she might be her office crush but that was uncalled for. “She only had them that one time.” Oh yeah, there was that one time.

“Scabies…stay away from those,” Leroy shouted to be heard over the room.

“And oh yeah, bee and wasp stings,” was heard and everyone broke into a big agreement.

“Chiggers are a bitch,” Emma chimed in too with the group. And realized she really hoped she never got chiggers again, they were nasty. She wouldn’t even wish chiggers on Regina.

The entire conference room all stood still for a moment and paused.

“What the hell are chiggers?” Regina yelled to the entire room.

The room grew quiet again.

“They’re awful,” Dorothy whispered in a scared tone, sending shivers throughout the room.

Regina leaned back in her chair and took in an exasperated long breath while closing her eyes. Not only was she going to have to deal with Emma Swan exclusively but also something called chiggers, she wasn’t sure which bug was going to be worse.


	5. Tick Check Buddy

Snow had offered anyone in the SnowArcher company who wanted to go to camp could go despite work obligations, so basically it was a two week vacation. A lot of people took the offer. Only a handful of people were going to be left back at the office to manage the company. Snow insisted Regina and Emma go because of the videos and she thought the two women needed some fresh air to hopefully clear some tension among them. Ruby was a necessary as it was her grandmother’s camp and she wasn’t going to miss it for the world. New intern Robyn was also signed up, even though Emma had yet to meet the young woman. Also, Alice was going because Emma had gotten permission to bring her along as a second in command for the videos. For purely selfish reasons, Rob from ad sales was going. He was the office slut and nobody was happy he was going. He made his intentions clear for both Emma and Ruby. Dorothy didn’t want to go, but as soon as she heard Rob was going she signed up. Office gossip was she hated Rob, so more office gossip was that she was going to kill him in the forest. Leroy signed up because he thought there would be good food and the air conditioning was broke in his apartment.

Snow had offered any of her staff to bring their families since she was bringing her husband David and their toddler Neal. Henry of course was going, he was very excited and Regina was very mad at the whole situation. With so many staff going, figuring out the cabins with all the kids going was a logistical nightmare.

Regina had offered many times to help Snow and Ruby organize the lodging and food menus; they both denied every time. This made the COO very worried and she looked into nearby hotels, which she hoped she would be allowed to lodge. The thought of lodging on the campsite was not appealing at all to her. Snow told Regina to talk with Granny on her usual class camp schedule and see where they could tweak things. Emma had offered to help Regina but the COO barked saying she had been to horse camp as a child, how different could it be.

After all the preparations were made, the day finally arrived for the staff to leave for SnowArcher Camp, sadly the name Camp Storybrooke was already trademarked and they couldn't use the name without getting sued. Granny accepted a bonus and changed the name of her camp for one session. Emma had picked up Alice from the train, her fellow younger blonde friend had been all big smiles. Alice was excited for the camp adventure and to get to hang out with her old boss. Almost everyone rode to camp in the shuttle Snow arranged. Regina refused; she decided to drive Henry and herself in her own car. She didn’t want to be trapped in the woods with no car.

The plan was to arrive a few days early to set things up and get settled in before all the kids showed up.

When the shuttle pulled up and the doors were opened, the fresh air was immediate. Emma took a step out of the shuttle and took several deep breaths. She could feel the cleaner air filling her city lungs and it felt good. A black Mercedes drove up to the campsite and parked. Emma watched while Regina decked out in SnowArcher gear exit her car along with Henry and a young woman. Regina looked like a SnowArcher catalog model with the olive green hiking cargo pants, one of the stylish plaid shirts and thick, long boots.

Alice walked up and stood next to Emma. “Sooo…that’s her right?” She nodded in the direction of Regina with a smirk on her face.

“What? Who?” Emma scrunched up her and glared at Alice.

“Your nemesis from the video. The one who stepped on your boob,” Alice almost wanted to laugh watching her boss watch her boss in rapt attention.

“Yeah, that is Regina Mills, the Chief Operating Officer. A pain in my ass,” Emma replied to Alice. “Her awesome kid Henry and some person I don’t know.”

Alice had a huge smile on her face. “That’s the Regina Mills. The voice lady you always complained about on your conference calls?” She asked as she continued to watch Emma, who hadn’t taken her eyes off Regina. “You complained a lot about her, you always got so agitated.” Emma seemed oblivious to Alice talking as she continued to watch Regina’s every move.

“This is probably the first time she’s ever actually worn SnowArcher gear. What a phony,” Emma said with a snarl on her face. She kept watching Regina gather a bag and talk to Henry. She didn’t want to admit while Regina might be a phony when it came to actually wearing their products, she did look damn good in them. Why did Regina have to look so damn hot in hiking gear? Emma really hoped Regina wasn’t wearing a tank top at all during these two weeks. Why did they waste money on models when they could just use Regina? Putting Regina in some videos was probably a good idea after all.

“No offense boss, but you’re drooling,” Alice laughed at Emma, her boss broken from her trance.

“I am not.” Emma checked her chin just to make sure. “That woman drives me crazy.” She continued to stare at Regina. The brunette noticed the stares and stared back only at Emma. Henry waved to Emma, who returned his wave. She really liked Henry; he was a bright, sweet kid. Okay, so Regina looks hot in hiking gear and managed to raise a nice kid while helping run a company, big deal she thought.

“Crazy in heat,” Alice chuckled at her own joke. Emma gaped at Alice. “Sorry, boss.” Alice took the smile off her face and stood serious next to Emma. She then looked closely at the younger woman next to Regina, who was very cute with glasses and looked ready for summer camp with her backpack and duffle bag. “Who’s the cute younger woman?”

Emma smirked and turned to Alice. “Who’s drooling now?”

“I am not,” Alice shoved Emma. “I’m just curious who our camp mates are going to be.”

“That must be her niece Robyn actually, she’ll be with us working on the videos,” Emma smiled as she saw Alice’s smile getting even bigger. “She’s my assigned intern or should I say Regina’s spy.”

“This is going to be one sensational summer camp,” Alice grinned as she continued to stare at Robyn.

Regina, Henry and Robyn walked towards Emma and Alice to reach the main building.

“Regina, I’m glad to see you’re not wearing high heels. I hate when uppity women in movies wear high heels as they are traipsing and whining through the woods.”

“I do not traipse.” Regina sauntered closer to Emma all decked in her SnowArcher hiking outfit. “Nor do I whine, Miss Swan,” she continued walking past Emma onto the campgrounds. 

*****

The campsite was beautiful; it was like out of something from a cheesy movie. There was a large cafeteria at the center of camp with a nice indoor space for the days when it’s raining for the kids to hang out watching movies or playing games at the multiple television set-ups. Then there were pool tables and ping-pong tables. There were buildings where classes were held, everything from computer classes to music classes to arts and crafts. There was a massive outdoor pool for the times the kids weren’t swimming in the lake. There was an outdoor theater stage with an elevated platform with logs as chairs for talent shows and other performances.

The surrounding lake was breathtaking; it went as far as the eye could see. There were several docks built around the camp for different activities ranging from water skiing to swimming lessons and other water sports. At the end of one of the docks, was a high platform and underneath was a huge inflated blob of a thing that floated on top of the lake.

Eventually, the whole SnowArcher team surrounded the base of the main building by the stairs leading up inside. Snow and Ruby took charge, welcoming everyone and telling everyone their lodging assignments. Granny stood up on the top stairs with them to answer any questions. And she made sure one thing stood out.

“Check for ticks every night before bed!” Granny yelled to the group. “And check after any kind of hike, even if it’s just around close surrounding areas. Get a Tick Check Buddy!” She pointed at everyone and made eye contact to make sure they heard her.

Everyone looked around to each other.

“Snow,” Regina said first and looked sternly at her boss.

“Regina is my Tick Check buddy,” Snow said loudly with a smile.

Emma was relieved and disappointed at the same time. She couldn’t imagine having to check Regina’s skin for bugs, it sounded pretty up close and personal. And just plain awkward.

“I can help Emma,” Rob said in front of everybody with a sly grin.

The group all turned to look at him and then Emma. She had seen that guy around the office but forgot his name. She always avoided him not liking his look or vibe.

“Ruby is my Tick Check buddy,” Emma quickly responded with pleading eyes to Ruby.

Ruby sighed, “Yup, I’m checking this chick for ticks.” She then whispered to Emma. “I wanted to check Dorothy.”

“That’s just as creepy as that guy,” Emma squinted her eyes at Ruby.

“No, it’s not. I’m respectful,” Ruby whispered back to Emma in a huff.

Everyone was assigned to a cabin along with the kids and the regular camp counselors. Everyone except for Regina and Emma. As the crowd dispersed to find their cabins and drop off their luggage, the two women left out approached Snow and Ruby.

“Oh good, you’re both here. Let me show where you two will be staying,” Snow said with a big, warm smile.

“Snow, that makes it sound like we’re…sharing,” Regina squinted her eyes at Snow and then glared at Emma.

“You are sharing with Emma,” Snow didn’t wait any longer to drop the bombshell.

“Excuse me?” Regina crossed her arms over her chest.

“What?!” Emma said at the same time as Regina’s ‘excuse me’ with wide crazy eyes.

Emma looked stunned. She had no idea she would be sharing a cabin with Regina. The only bright side would be if they were sharing with kids. And the kids drove Regina crazy.

“I thought you said all the normal camp counselors were going to be here.” Emma looked back and forth to Snow and Ruby. “Aren’t we staying with the kids and counselors? Like one big slumber party?” She tried another tactic. “Shouldn’t we both be overseeing a cabin?”

Emma motioned her hands between her and Regina to emphasize that the two of them away from each other. She wasn’t super excited about sharing a cabin with rowdy kids for two weeks, yet she would prefer that to the possibility of sharing with Regina.

“I didn’t think you two would like sharing with all the kids and counselors,” Snow offered with a hopeful smile to the two women giving her scathing looks. “Plus you need space to work.” The pixie haired brunette added as if working was a perk, which it was to the other brunette.

“Space was tight, but Granny gave up her office for you two,” Ruby stepped in to help Snow ease the tension. She started walking and motioned for the other three women to follow her. They walked past the cafeteria to the next building, only a few feet away; to a small, adorable cabin a few feet sandwiched in between the cafeteria and the building holding the classrooms.

“We’re sharing an office and bedroom?” Regina asked in an agitated voice.

Emma shivered hearing Regina say the word ‘bedroom’ in regards to her. She cursed her body for reacting to Regina’s voice and the thought they would be sharing a bedroom. And that she would see Regina in pajamas. Then she thought how Regina was going to be the most uptight roommate she ever had and it was like a bucket of ice poured on her crotch.

“It’s an office and we made it into lodging too,” Ruby said with Snow close behind her as she flew open the door to reveal the office.

The office was quaint with modest amenities. There was a big nice desk along with a long couch, television mounted on a wall, and a few bookcases. And the most eye-catching part of the office was a bunk bed pushed into a corner of the small cabin.

“Absolutely not,” Regina said sternly as she waved her hands for dramatic effect.

“It was either this or you stay in a cabin with kids, this is much nicer trust me,” Ruby said. “This has a way better air conditioning. This has privacy. You’re right next door to the kitchen. You’ve got your own private bathroom AND shower. You really don’t want to shower where a whole a bunch of prepubescent and pubescent smelly kids. Trust me.”

“This is exactly why I don’t want to share a shower with Miss Swan,” Regina snapped back.

“Regina, we won’t be in the same shower…unless you want to,” Emma winked at Regina. She couldn’t help adding that last part; she kind of really liked seeing Regina get mad now and even better if she can get Regina’s vein on her forehead to pop out. Emma watched Regina’s face closely and she was happy when the brunette gave her a smoldering glare and the forehead vein popped out.

Regina took a deep breath and turned to Snow. “Snow, I’m staying at a hotel.”

“Regina, the nearest hotel is an hour away. You’ll spend all your time in the car,” Snow put her arm around Regina’s shoulder.

“I would prefer to sleep in my car then have to hear that woman snore,” Regina nodded to Emma.

“I don’t snore,” Emma scoffed.

“You look like a snorer,” Regina sneered back to Emma.

Snow and Ruby stood between the two women, their eyes going back and forth like a tennis match.

“Regina, the lodging is tight everywhere. Since Neal is with us, David and I are sharing a tent by the lake,” Snow smiled her bright Snow smile. “We thought it would be fun and cozy.”

Regina scrunched up her nose at her boss. The woman was clearly insane if she thought sharing a tent with a toddler and her husband for nearly two weeks was going to be fun.

“A tent?” Emma asked confused. Okay, she thought the shared office with Regina wasn’t looking so bad. A tent with a toddler for two weeks sounded like a torture.

“See? Now it really doesn’t sound so bad,” Ruby offered with a smirk.

“It’s never too early to teach Neal about camping,” Snow kept smiling while getting confused and pouty faces in return.

“He’s two, Snow,” Regina sighed and rolled her eyes.

“Our tent is going to be very cozy and filled with family love,” Snow tilted her head and let her thoughts wonder to happy.

“And a lot of unsavory family smells in such close confined quarters,” Regina raised her eyebrows and resigned herself to being stuck with Emma. She could only hope that at the least the blonde would probably pass less gas than a toddler and burp less, but who knows where Emma was concerned; the woman did eat like a child.

Regina wanted to throttle Snow. Yes, compared to staying in a flimsy tent for two weeks with a toddler, this office lodging was better. Yet it also came with one Emma Swan accessory.

Emma had been mostly quiet so far. She could not believe the situation. Snow actually believed the two of them could share a room together for two weeks. That they could sleep in the same room together for two weeks. They could share a bathroom for two weeks. It was possible her CEO was a little more wacky than she originally thought. A bunk bed? She hadn’t been in a bunk bed since she was a kid. Which reminded her of a very big thing to do when you’re a kid and you want something another kid wants.

“Dibs on bottom!” Emma hadn’t realized how loudly she said that, startling everyone in the room. “I mean, I call the bottom bunk.”

Regina rolled her eyes and let out a loud huff towards Emma.

“I have seniority, I’m calling…dibs…on the bottom,” Regina said the word dibs with a forceful edge.

“She always seemed more like a top to me,” Ruby whispered to Emma in which the blonde jabbed her elbow trying to shut her up.

“Well, you are _senior _so you can take the bottom. I wouldn’t want you breaking a hip,” Emma snapped back.__

____

____

“Miss Swan, I would advise you to sleep with one eye open,” Regina threatened.

She was bummed to lose the bottom bunk, getting up and down on the top bunk was a pain.

There was an awkward silence as the four women stood around looking at the office. Slowly, Snow and Ruby backed out of the office and left, Regina and Emma stood frozen staring at their forced shared lodging.

“It’s like we’re in the Isolation Cabin without doing any of the fun stuff to get put in the Isolation Cabin,” Emma sighed as she slung one of her bags down on the couch.

Regina glared at Emma.

“I’m going to regret this,” Regina put her laptop bag down on the desk. “What does one normally do, to be put into an Isolation Cabin?”

Emma looked over at Regina with curious eyes. Had she never seen the Parent Trap? Either version? “You know…pouring honey all over someone while they’re sleeping. Stealing someone’s bed and hitching it on a roof. Putting shaving cream in your hair. Cutting your dress in half so your ass hangs out at a dance. Dropping a bucket of chocolate on your head…” Emma named off several pranks on her fingers and would have continued on if Regina hadn’t interrupted her.

“Miss Swan, if you do any of those asinine things...I will shave your head,” Regina stared hard at Emma without blinking. “See if anyone watches your videos without your golden locks.”

This time it was Emma’s turn to roll her eyes. “Great, I finally stop doing them and go back to Boston.”

Regina stopped going through her suitcase and looked over to Emma surprised. Did Emma not like living in New York? Did she not enjoy her cushy new promotion? This news was a bit of a shock to Regina.

“Let’s just unpack before the tour,” Emma took out her toiletry bag and headed toward the bathroom closing the door.

*****

The SnowArcher staff was given a full tour of the campgrounds and all the surrounding areas, including the horse stables, the cafeteria, the classrooms, the lodging, the boathouse, some of the hiking trails, the pool, designated lake swimming areas and most importantly as Granny described it – the blob. Every kid at camp loved the blob, it was massive inflatable monstrosity that looked like the world’s biggest potato. The object was to climb up on the dock platform, which resembled a high dive then jump onto the blob. Once on the blob, you moved further down so another kid could jump on the blob. About four kids could fit on the blob, then the lucky number five kid would jump on the blob and because of the pressure from the other four kids that last jump would catapult all the kids high into the air then crashing down in the lake.

After the tour, there was a meeting to discuss how the camp was going to be run. Henry went off with David and Neal to wander around the camp and have fun. Snow and Granny led the meeting in the big art room, with the SnowArcher staff seated at the tables. Emma sat in between Ruby and Alice. Regina sat next to Robyn while the rest of the staff filled in.

The session would run almost like a normal session with Granny’s counselors coming in to manage the usual things for the campers, which meant the SnowArcher staff could concentrate on making everything extra special. All the kids were getting bags of clothes, sports equipment and a few toys to take back with them. There were SnowArcher stuffed animals with little logo t-shirts placed on every bed.

It had already been decided that the camp would keep its usual class schedule with additional classes with some of SnowArcher’s staff teaching. Regina would teach a simple, basic business class, she said they were never too young to learn. Snow was going to teach a writing workshop and an archery class of course. Ruby was going to show kids how to be a prepared hiker and tracker. Granny was going to teach her usual cooking class. And Emma was going to teach fencing and have a future filmmaker class with kids helping her make some of the videos.

After the class were announced, there was a quick lull before moving onto the next topic.

“You know fencing?” Regina blurted with a skeptical look on her face as soon as Granny was done speaking.

“I do. Don’t look so shocked,” Emma snapped back to Regina.

“I just assumed you would be teaching a class over three card monte or career catfishing,” Regina raised her eyebrows to Emma.

Leroy laughed; he never could resist a petty, snarky joke.

Emma growled, for that remark she thought she was going to call Regina out in her first class and make her part of the demonstration. As the meeting started back up again, that guy who offered to check Emma out was sitting two tables over and caught Emma’s attention.

“Who is that again? I see him around the office,” Emma leaned in to whisper to Ruby.

“That’s Rob,” Ruby curled her lip in disgust.

“He looks swarmy and dopey at the same time,” Emma’s brow furrowed.

“Gossip was that Rob and Regina hooked up,” Ruby leaned into Emma to whisper this gossip.

“Oh, I don’t need to know the details of Regina’s dating life,” Emma said quickly. She tried to hide her surprise, that guy? Regina dated that guy? She would have never guessed, Regina seemed way out of his league.

“They didn’t date, they just hooked up,” Ruby emphasized ‘hooked’ up with raising her eyebrows suggestively.

“Yeah, I don’t need to know the specifics for how long or how many times…” Emma mumbled and rambled at the same time. A small wave of nausea came over her stomach all of sudden. She did not want a visual image of Regina being physical with that Rob greasy guy. She didn’t realize she now had a scowl on her face.

“Oh my gawd, you’re jealous,” Ruby studied Emma’s face as the blonde tried to look away, then a huge cocky grin spread across her lips. “I’m guessing for Regina because she did touch your boob already.”

“I’m not jealous, I just don’t like that guy for some reason. His hair looks oily and his accent…is uncharming,” Emma defended herself.

“Well, it was only one time and I’m pretty sure they were both drunk. He was grumpy for weeks after and Regina avoided everybody like the plague,” Ruby looked over at Regina and winked and got a cold, hard stare in return. “Maybe she just needed to knock her boots off.”

“Regina was drunk, I would like to see that,” Emma couldn’t imagine seeing Regina losing control.

Ruby watched Emma closely and smiled, she thought to herself that her new blonde friend did indeed have a crush on the most unattainable person in the office. Regina never dated anyone in the office then the one time she did, it turned out disastrous. So disastrous that she instituted a non-dating incentive in the company. Snow scaled it back so office romances were okay but not encouraged; Regina then added that formal paperwork had to be filled out if any dating of any kind occurred. And possibly bonuses would be withheld if co-workers dated. Again, Snow changed that and just didn’t encourage inter office dating after the Rob incident, which no one knew precisely what happened. And dating between superiors and direct reports was completely forbidden.

The meeting ended, and it was announced dinner would be in two hours, so the staff could start exploring the camp.

Emma, Alice and Robyn went about setting up a video editing station on one of the camp classrooms; it would be their base after they shot some footage. Emma already felt like a third wheel hanging around the two younger women. They seemed to have hit it off and were flirting up a storm. When they went outside to shoot some test footage she was happy to see Henry and hopefully nab a forth wheel to their practice.

“Emma!” Henry ran over to the blonde. “Are you shooting a new video yet? Which product are you testing?”

“We are going to shoot some test footage. Wanna go on a small hike with us?” Emma smiled warmly at the kid.

Regina walked up quickly looking like quite the hiker in her SnowArcher ensemble. She watched her niece who appeared to only see one person in the world right now, which was this young blonde woman that Emma brought along.

“Mom, we’re going on a small hike to shoot some test footage,” Henry said talking animated to his mom.

Emma gave a forced smile, “Would you care to join us?” She made brief eye contact with Regina.

“Yeah, Aunt Gina, come along,” Robyn said, momentarily stopping her constantly talking with Alice.

Emma couldn’t hide a real smile now, she loved hearing Robyn call Regina ‘Aunt Gina.’

“I guess getting to know the surrounding areas more thoroughly is a good idea for exit strategies,” Regina said.

“There’s the camp spirit,” Emma said with a fake smile. “Fleeing.”

Their small hike was surprisingly enjoyable. They took the digital camera out and shot some footage of the trail and of Henry and Emma pretending to hike super serious with stern looks on their faces. Regina watched the four of them talk about which areas of the camp location they wanted to showcase. Emma already had mapped out all the products she wanted to use and they were being delivered tomorrow.

When they returned from their short hike it was time for dinner. Regina wasn’t really looking forward to dinner because lunch hadn’t been that impressive. She was pretty sure Granny only knew high calorie comfort food. Her son however and his fellow bad eater Emma were giddy in what awaited them for dinner.

The five of them entered the camp cafeteria and sat together at the end of one of the long tables.

“Pizza!” Henry exclaimed loudly.

Emma smiled at him then they gave each other a high five. Regina rolled her eyes at both of them, and then her face went back to scowling when she saw Robyn only talking to Alice.

“Henry, you’re eating the salad too,” she pointed to the salad on the table and then to her son with a stern look. She then stared at Emma and tilted her head.

Emma reached out and grabbed the salad bowls and started filling both of their plates with leafy kale, tomatoes and other salad accessories.

“This salad is going to make the pizza taste that much better kid,” Emma took a bite of her salad and forced a fake smile.

Suddenly, there was loud yelling and their table started shaking.

“WE’VE GOT CAMP SPIRIT! YES, WE DO! WE’VE GOT CAMP SPIRIT! HOW ABOUT YOU!” the table over from Emma, Regina, Henry and the rest yelled out at them while slamming their hands down on their table. They pointed to their table.

Regina rolled her eyes and let out a big dramatic huff. “Must we go through this obnoxious ordeal during every meal?”

Emma laughed, “It’s part of camp, c’mon fancy pants.” She then nudged Henry with her elbow to get ready.

Emma and Henry started shouting back at the table, with Alice and Robyn along with everyone else at their table. They pounded so hard on their table, all the food shook and the drink cups threatened to topple over. Regina grabbed a few of them before they did dump over the table.

“WE’VE GOT CAMP SPIRIT! YES, WE DO! WE’VE GOT CAMP SPIRIT! HOW ABOUT YOU!”

On the last part, Emma slammed her hands even harder on the table and leaned over to get closer to Regina, who in return folded her arms against her chest and glared back at the blonde.

*****

After a long day of set-up, dinner and a few s’mores by a fire it was finally time to take a break and retreat to everyone’s cabin. Regina said a good night to Henry; so far he seemed to be loving the camp experience. He was going off to a cabin with a few of the regular camp counselors. He was smiling the whole time, so maybe this horrible experience would turn out worth it for Henry’s sake at least. She was not looking forward to spending alone time with Emma. She was sure they wouldn’t have anything to talk about and the woman looked like a slob in regards to housekeeping.

Emma was kind of dreading going back to her close quarters with Regina alone. They both entered the office cabin and went about unpacking quietly. Regina went into the bathroom and closed the door. Emma sat down on the couch, to take a break and open a guilty pleasure book to read.

“Emma!”

Emma dropped the book she was reading. She was so startled by Regina calling her name. She jumped up off the couch and dashed to the bathroom and barged in.

Regina was standing in front of the mirror in her bra but thankfully she still had her pants on.

“Did I say barge in here!” Regina yelled at Emma.

“You screamed my name!” Emma yelled at Regina. The two women locked eyes. Emma averted her eyes from staring at Regina in her bra, but not before her eyes did a full sweep and down Regina’s body. She waited for the brunette to say something, why she yelled for her. “What happened?”

“I think I have a tick,” Regina’s face was softer now as she stared at Emma. She looked embarrassed.

“Already?” Emma scrunched up her face. “We’ve only been here a few hours.”

“I don’t think ticks have a time schedule,” Regina rolled her eyes at Emma.

“You really think it’s a tick?”

“No, I just wanted to risk Lyme disease so you could see me in my underwear,” Regina gritted through her teeth to Emma.

“You didn’t need such an elaborate charade,” Emma smirked, she was pleased to see the appearance of Regina’s forehead vein again. She was getting kind of addicted to seeing that vein.

Emma didn’t want to stare at Regina in her black bra but it was really hard to look away. She shifted uncomfortably on her legs and she slowly moved closer to Regina.

“Where do you think it is?” Emma made a slow motion with her hands up and down Regina’s body, which gave her eyes, an excuse to trail up and down the stunning brunette’s body.

Regina let out a dramatic sigh, “Here,” she pointed just right under her breast.

Emma realized she had to lean in closer to Regina to take a look. She was only going to be a few inches from her breasts, great she thought. She squinted her eyes and got a little closer.

Regina could feel Emma’s breath on her stomach as she got closer to examine the tick.

“You’re right. It’s a tick,” Emma rubbed the back of her neck. “I’ll go get Snow.” The blonde was about to dash off when Regina grabbed her arm.

“She’s down by the lake, that’s going to take time to come back.” Regina had a worried look on her face. “What if it burrows in further? Can…you take it out?”

Emma stared at Regina dumbfounded. “She’s your Tick Buddy though?” She did not want to take a tick out of Regina.

“Please…Emma,” Regina said nicely staring at the blonde with big, brown eyes.

Emma’s throat went dry and her cheeks got warm hearing Regina say her name like that, well hearing Regina say her name at all and not the condescending Miss Swan. Plus, those eyes; Emma felt completely helpless to refuse.

“Uh, yeah…what’s the best way to get them out?” Emma asked Regina.

“Did you not read over the guide?” Regina huffed at Emma.

“Just tell me,” Emma gritted her teeth.

“Get the eyebrows pliers out of my makeup bag,” Regina ordered to Emma.

“It’s not like there’s a bomb strapped to your chest, you can move,” Emma said back to Regina, who glared at her return. “It’s probably faster than you explaining where they are.”

Once Regina got the eyebrows pliers, Emma bent down on her knees to get the best vantage point on trying to pull the tick out. She knelt in front of a half naked Regina and unconsciously licked her lips. Emma did not want to say what she had to say.

“You need to take your bra off,” Emma looked up to Regina from her kneeling position. She could feel the heat radiating off Regina’s body. 

“Seriously?” Regina looked down at Emma with wide eyes.

“Regina, the tick is right up against your bra,” Emma stared up at Regina, she really hoped the brunette could not see how much she was sweating despite as Ruby pointed out the excellent air conditioner unit in this office cabin.

“Fine,” Regina reached around to undo her bra but then Emma touched her hand.

“Here I’ll do it…you just uhhh…hold your….breasts,” this was not a sentence Emma thought she would ever say to one of her superiors and certainly not Regina. She stood up and moved behind Regina and gently unhooked her bra, pulling it away from Regina’s skin slowly while the brunette held her breasts. She didn’t want to think how Regina had the most beautiful skin she had ever seen and getting to see her entire bare back was quite the sight. She swallowed a big gulp, which she hoped Regina didn’t hear. She realized how strong of an urge she had to lean in and kiss the bare skin. 

Regina could feel Emma’s breath on the back of her neck as she unclasped the bra. Emma’s hands were warm and soft. Regina cursed her body for allowing goose bumps to pop up all over her skin from the brief contact. She closed her eyes briefly and prayed her eyes didn’t give her away, that despite having a tick, she was getting turned on having Emma take off her bra. 

Emma put the bra on the sink and went back to stand in front of Regina. She got on her knees again and back into position in front of Regina, trying to control her breathing and the sensory overload of being a near an almost completely naked Regina Mills. She did not want to think what she really wanted to do in his kneeling position in front of Regina. She cautiously touched Regina’s bare skin on her stomach, below her breast. There was an electric shock touching Regina, Emma held in a gasp as her fingers ran over the smooth, beautiful skin, looking for the best way to extract the blood sucking insect.

“Can you lift your right one higher?” Emma asked shyly of Regina, “Your…uh right breast.”

“Yes, I got it. As opposed to my right leg,” Regina raised her eyebrows. Her nostrils flared and her breathing quickened as she had to stand topless with Emma and she was beyond furious with her body, she could feel her nipples become erect when the blonde had her fingers smoothly running over her stomach.

“Hey, where is that smelly hand sanitizer stuff you kept putting on?” Emma asked.

“On the desk,” Regina looked down at Emma.

Emma rushed out to the room and grabbed the hand sanitizer and came back.

“What are doing?”

“I’m going to douse the tick in this smelly hand sanitizer, hoping it slows him down while I pull him out,” Emma said as she positioned the small bottle near Regina.

“Do NOT tear him off. I don’t want half a tick in me,” Regina demanded to Emma.

“So gross, I don’t either,” Emma’s face scrunched up thoroughly disgusted by the thought.

Emma dripped hand sanitizer all over Regina’s stomach aiming for the tick. She managed to smother the tick pretty good as the tick’s moving stilled. She grabbed the eyebrows pliers and gently squeezed the tick’s sticking out half and slowly started to pull him out. Regina waited and held her breath.

“Got it!” Emma stood up and carefully showed Regina that she did pull out the entire tick. “See, the whole sucker.” She said in an excited voice.

“Lovely, kill it now,” Regina’s face a murderous glint in her eyes.

Emma leaned over and flushed the tick down the sink’s drain. When she turned around she was standing in front of Regina while the woman still covered her breasts with her hands. Her eyes betrayed her and looked down briefly then back up into Regina’s eyes. If she wasn’t mistaken, Regina’s eyes looked dilated, probably much like her own. Could Regina possibly be turned on as she was by a gross tick extraction? 

“Do you mind Miss Swan?” Regina nodded her head towards the door.

“Yeah, you’re welcome,” Emma washed her hands and left the bathroom.

They both went about unpacking and getting ready for bed. They both took showers, ridding themselves from the dirt and sweat of the day and hopefully any possible chiggers. Regina came out of the bathroom wearing long pant pajamas with a long sleeve top. Emma tried not to stare, but the silk pajama combo made Regina look like a classy socialite going to bed in the 1940s.

“Aren’t you going to be hot?” Emma asked pointing at the classy pajamas.

Regina gave Emma a once over in her scantily clad bedroom attire of boy shorts and a tank top.

“We are surrounded by a camp of kids, I didn’t think giving them an eyeful was appropriate,” Regina’s eyes raked over Emma’s enormous amount of skin on display.

Emma rolled her eyes. “Well, the only one getting an eyeful is you, hope you enjoyed it.” She walked over to the bunk bed; she lifted her foot to place it on the end of Regina’s bottom bunk.

“Don’t you dare Miss Swan,” Regina walked over and leaned into Emma’s personal space. “Use the ladder.” She pointed to the ladder attached near the end of the bed. She pulled back her covers and crawled in and laid down.

Emma smirked, she lifted her foot to the thin metal ladder and pulled herself up on the top bunk. Her bare feet on the thin metal ladder was not something she was going to enjoy for two weeks. She plopped down on the top bunk shaking the whole structure. Regina glared at the mattress above her head and was ready to find a stick to poke Emma in the back.

“Ugh, I forgot to plug in my phone,” Emma lamented; she did not want to get up and go down the ladder. She hoped Regina would offer, instead there was just silence.

Emma hauled herself down the ladder, shaking the whole bunk bed contraption in the process. Regina glared at her. She rummaged around in her bag, found her cord and plugged in her phone. She then pulled herself up the metal ladder again. The whole bunk bed structure shook again as Emma got situated.

Regina let out a dramatic sigh once Emma was settled again.

“Damn it, I forgot to set my alarm on my phone,” Emma groaned.

Still silence. Emma shook the bunk bed again as she crawled back down the ladder again and set the timer on her phone. The bed shook once again as she clambered back up the ladder and flopped down. She accidentally knocked over her SnowArcher stuffed bunny on the floor. She leaned over, her head hanging down in Regina’s view.

“My bunny,” Emma pointed to her lost bunny on the floor. “I’ll just go down the ladder again to get it.”

“No, you will not.” Regina threw back her covers in a dramatic sweep, got up and went over to retrieve the bunny. She threw it hard at Emma who was sitting up in her bunk. The bunny landed right in the middle of her chest.

“Thank you,” Emma tilted her head as she played with the bunny’s ears.

A moment later, Emma swung her head down and scanned over Regina’s bed. “You’re not sleeping with your bunny?”

“No, Miss Swan believe it or not after the age of five I didn’t need to sleep with stuffed animals anymore,” Regina was not liking that any moment Emma could swing her head down and see what she was doing or sleeping.

“I’m using it as…neck support,” Emma said still with her head hanging upside down in Regina’s view.

“Sure you are,” Regina raised one eyebrow and ran her hands over the big blanket covering her. An expensive blanket that she brought from home, there was no way she was sleeping with camp blankets.

“Can I have your bunny then?” Emma asked again with blonde hair swaying back and forth while she talked upside down.

“You need double neck support?”

Emma pulled her head up as she had enough of blood rushing to her brain. “Why bunnies? I always thought the SnowArcher mascot was a bear?” Emma pondered out loud.

“Yes, a bear having a bowel movement to be exact,” Regina sneered.

“That’s what I thought,” Emma let out a small laugh. “I called him pooping snow bear.” 

“Snow might be one of the world’s best marksperson but she’s not a graphic artist,” Regina said in regards to her boss and friend.

“Are you going to get the bunny?” Emma leaned down once again, she smiled a fake polite smile to Regina. She even thought about batting her eyelashes but she knew that wouldn’t work on the brunette.

Regina rolled her eyes. She got up once again, went over to the desk, grabbed the stupid stuffed bunny and threw it at Emma. But she purposefully threw it over her head. The cute stuffed bunny landed in the corner by the door.

“Just go to sleep Miss Swan,” Regina said as she got back into bed.

“Sure thing…Miss Mills,” Emma drawled out, she turned on her side; slightly shaking the whole bunk bed structure again.

Regina was definitely going to look for a good stick tomorrow so she could poke Emma’s mattress whenever the blonde annoyed her.


	6. First Day

Regina was awoken suddenly by hearing a loud melody. She bolted up and looked around the office cabin trying to figure out where the loud music was coming from. The singing kept going on and on, ‘What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, stand a little taller, doesn’t mean I’m lonely when I’m alone’.

“Miss Swan your phone!” Regina looked for something to hit the mattress. “Emma! Turn off your damn phone!”

“What? Where am I?” Emma rolled over; the structure shook as she sat up.

Regina reached over and grabbed a book and started poking the mattress. “Emma! Turn off your phone, it’s too early for Kelly Clarkson.”

“It’s never too early for Kelly,” mumbled Emma from the top bunk. “Hey!” She yelled, as Regina had poked the mattress harder with a book.

Emma stumbled around, she tried to find the ladder but she was extremely groggy. She swung her legs over the top bunk until her feet felt something solid and she pushed herself down. She lost her footing and landed on Regina’s legs.

“Miss Swan,” Regina gritted through her teeth as Emma groped her legs and landed her hands on the ground where she pulled herself off the mattress and laid on the floor for a second.

“Hey, you try waking up and climbing, it’s hard,” Emma rolled over and crawled across the hard wooden floor until she found her phone plugged into the wall and turned the alarm off.

Peaceful silence filled the room. She stumbled over to the couch and fell face down on it.

“You can’t go back to sleep, the campers will be arriving shortly,” Regina got out of bed and headed into the bathroom, slamming the door. Emma groaned as she turned over and put her arm over her eyes.

After Regina’s long tenure in the bathroom, it was finally Emma’s turn. Regina was wearing another pair of lightweight cargo hiking pants, SnowArcher t-shirt with a long sleeve over it. They bumped into each other as Emma was trying to dash into the bathroom; she felt like her bladder was going to explode.

“Breakfast is in ten minutes Miss Swan,” Regina said as she left the office cabin.

Emma finally waltzed into the dining hall to see almost the whole SnowArcher camp team, looked like that Rob was missing; no loss. She spotted Regina having breakfast with Henry and Robyn, the three of them looked to be enjoying themselves. Before she could see her, Alice was beside her.

“Morning boss! Ready for our first camp day,” Alice said in a super cheery voice.

“Coffee?” Emma groaned to the bubbly younger blonde woman.

“Got ya covered boss,” Alice handed Emma a coffee just the way she liked it.

Alice walked over and sat back at one of the tables and Emma followed her to sit down. Granny came up behind her and placed a full plate of pancakes, eggs, bacon and fruit in front of her.

“Marry me,” Emma looked up at Granny and smiled.

“Sorry, honey you’re not my type,” Granny patted Emma’s shoulder and walked back to the kitchen. “Despite your ravenous appetite and golden locks.” She yelled over her shoulder.

“Regina threatened to cut off my golden locks if I pull a camp prank on her,” Emma looked over to Alice and said in between shoveling food in her mouth.

Alice looked over to her boss with a mischievous smile. “So you’re definitely pulling a camp prank on her right?”

Emma winked back at Alice.

Minutes later, the whole room was involved in the shouting match again about camp spirit. Emma admitted she wasn’t fond of the yelling so early but she got into it seeing how miserable Regina looked. And she smiled knowing how much louder this was going to get at every meal once the all the kids arrive shortly to the camp.

Thankfully, the SnowArcher camp staff just got to watch as two bus loads of kids were dropped off on the massive camp grounds. The regular Camp Granny counselors went to work helping the kids unload their bags and get set up in their cabins. Snow and Emma had worked with several schools and organizations to find kids who truly either wanted to learn more about the outdoors or who might really need the change of scenery. And some kids sent in applications to get into the first ever SnowArcher Summer Camp program.

After lunch and the big welcome speech by Granny and Snow, the kids were separated into their small group teams and assigned their individual counselors. Emma figured Ruby was the likely culprit with a hand in the ‘crazy coincidence’ of Henry winding up in her’s. As Elsa, the young grad student who would be tag-teaming the group with her called off the names, Emma stifled a grin when he feigned surprise that she would be his counselor for the week. 

Regina looked over the campgrounds as the smaller groups started meeting up and saw that Emma and Henry were in the same group, she pursed her lips together. Her small group consisted of three girls, two boys and a counselor named Killian. She was not impressed with Killian so far, he seemed like a terrible flirt. After she shot him down in a glorious put down he started scanning the camp for his next target. His eyes of course landed on Emma. Regina rolled her eyes. Why couldn’t she be back in the office where she could close the door and shut out all the morons?

The kids then broke off into their first class of the summer session before having some fun time.

Emma decided to ask Regina to help her with her first fencing class minutes before it happened in hopes the stubborn brunette would cave with kids waiting for a demonstration. Emma saw Regina sitting on the main porch reading over some papers.

“Regina, since you’re a fencer and nobody else here is, can you help me demonstrate in my first class,” Emma asked nicely of her co-worker and forced roommate.

“No, why are you waiting until the last minute to organize your class?” Regina didn’t look up from her papers.

“Because I didn’t think we would get all the fencing gear and we did,” Emma lied to Regina, she hoped this was working. She wanted to see Regina in fencing gear and more importantly she wanted to beat her in a dual.

Henry ran up to the porch to help close the deal.

“C’mon Mom! I’ve never gotten to see you fence before,” Henry said excitedly with a big smile as he looked over to Regina.

Emma suppressed a grin, damn she loved this kid; he was helping with her plan and didn’t even know it.

Regina let out a dramatic huff. “Fine, where is the gear?”

Emma started leading Regina into one of the classrooms to pick up the gear and change.

“And Alice and Robyn are shooting it for our first camp video,” Emma said quickly as they entered the nice, cool air-conditioned classroom where Alice and Robyn were getting ready.

“Absolutely not,” Regina spun around and came face to face with Emma. “I’m still getting all kinds of crazy messages from that asinine video, people won’t seem to let it go.”

“Regina, it’s the best way to show off the new SnowArcher fencing equipment. Fencing with two people,” Emma could tell Regina wasn’t going to budge. And Regina was right; Emma couldn’t believe the splash the brunette made from her one appearance on the videos. She was most shocked that the majority of the comments wanted to see her and Regina kiss. How was that even possible? The woman threatened her and people thought it was sexy and were hashtagging them together. Maybe that’s why her brain played some NSFW dreams of Regina a few nights ago, Emma shook her head. It was all those damn insane posts demanding that the two of them show back up together again. She had already anticipated Regina’s answer though to her question.

“We will have on fencing gear, no one will see your face,” Emma picked up a fencing headgear and handed it to Regina. “Don’t you want to beat my ass?” She smirked to Regina.

“Yes, Miss Swan, nothing would please me more than beating your ass,” Regina said in a low voice, out of earshot of the younger two women and her son, staring into Emma’s eyes.

Emma didn’t want to acknowledge the shivers that ran through her body with the low timber of Regina’s voice. Having those two words in one sentence did something to her stomach, please and ass, specifically her ass. Their eyes locked and neither one of them were aware how long they were engaged until Alice cleared her throat to get their attention.

“We’re all ready boss and the kids are waiting,” Alice said to Emma, then leaned and whispered while handing her a napkin. “Here, for the drool.” Emma snatched it roughly and scowled at her cheeky assistant.

“Kick her ass Aunt Gina,” Robyn patted Regina’s arm.

Alice lifted the digital camera to her eye. She walked out of the classroom trailed by Robyn who gave both her aunt and Emma thumbs up as she walked past them.

There was a small group of kids assembled in one of the outdoor designated sport areas. Henry was seated on the front row waiting to see his mom in action. Slowly, Emma walked out in full fencing gear, the SnowArcher fencing gear was slightly different than the traditional outfit worn. Instead of the full white gear, SnowArcher came in a baby blue color and light purple. Emma wore a blue fencing outfit, she strode out to the class carrying her sword and headgear.

“Hi, I’m Emma. Welcome to SnowArcher Camp and the fencing class,” Emma looked around at the class, mixed in with boys and girls. She heard a few mumbled ‘hi Emmas’ said amongst the group of kids. “We are going to learn the basics of fencing today. Then later, we will all fence.”

The kids clapped loudly, no doubt excited about the possibility of actually fencing, Henry being the loudest.

“We will all be using proper fencing equipment,” Emma motioned up and down her body with her sword and she pointed out features of the fencing outfit. “So we are going to learn fencing basics, the moves and techniques.”

To really capture the kid’s attention, Emma made a sudden lunge with her sword and sliced a branch off a nearby tree. She got a few ‘ooohhhs’ and ‘cool’ throughout her assembled kids.

“And we are lucky today because I have a another trained fencer who will demonstrate some moves with me as an overall introduction for all of you young fencers,” Emma waved her arm over the small audience of eager students. “Please, come out fellow fencer!” Emma shouted off to the recreational building.

Regina came out wearing a pale purple SnowArcher fencing outfit carrying her sword. No one could tell she wasn’t happy because no one could see her face. Tracking her entire entrance were Alice and Robyn, making sure to get footage of this practice dual for the video. Regina had been a hard sell to get in another video, hopefully there was going to be a way to reveal that it was in fact Regina under that mask for the Internet audience.

“Now, this may be a fellow fencer who has graciously agreed to take part in this dual as a demonstration, but however young fencers…this also happens to be my arch nemesis.” Emma said to play up the story aspect that Snow kept pushing. “This person…stole…my bunny.”

There were gasps from the young audience. Regina rolled her eyes under her mask.

“Her bunny is dead,” Regina mumbled to herself.

“What did you say?” Emma demanded of her foe, quite possibly real, arch nemesis Regina. “I demand you!” She yelled for dramatic effect as she quickly put on her headgear and raised her sword to aim at Regina.

“Your dear bunny has been…KIDnapped,” Regina disguised her voice with undistinguished accent, that seemed to be a mix of British, Spanish and possibly Scottish.

There were more gasps from the young crowd.

Emma froze for a moment, trying to think of a retort back to Regina’s ‘villain’; she decided to borrow a line from one of her favorite movies.

“Hello, my name is Emma Swan…you stole my stuffed bunny,” Emma paused for dramatic effect, “…prepare to fence.” She then moved slowly towards Regina.

Regina raised her sword ready for an attack from Emma. Henry was on the edge of his seat watching his mom and his new friend swat back and forth.

The two women went forward and backward, clashing swords together; pushing each other one way then another. Emma started shouting out positions as they went, Regina kept up with her, changing to the next stance as quickly as the blonde called for them.

“Pronation prime,” both women took the stance, “pronation seconde!” Both women jumped into excellent posture for the next stance. They continued on in sync as they went through all the positions seamlessly, “pronation tierce, quarte, pronation quinte, sixte, septime, octave…and neuieme!”

When Emma yelled this last one and aimed her sword slightly above her head, pointing at Regina. Now she thought, she was going to have some fun.

“Where is my bunny?” Emma demanded in an overly dramatic tone.

Regina was impressed with Emma’s fencing, she had highly doubted such a clumsy person as the blonde would have any grace fencing, but clearly she was wrong. Emma was actually a formidable opponent. And now she had to step back into character for these kids.

“You will never see your stuffed bunny again,” Regina said again in an absurd accent. “AND…your bunny will never get into the high school of his dreams.” She couldn’t help adding that last part, she was still mad at Emma.

“Geesh, lady,” Emma muttered under her breath. How many times did she have to apologize for something she didn’t do.

Emma then lunged for Regina; the brunette was caught off guard and ran back a few paces as to not be hit. Alice and Robyn had to run a little to keep up with the action. She thought that Emma got a little too close that time. Okay, the gloves were coming off so to speak. She lunged for Emma, catching the blonde off guard as she watched her fall down onto the dirt.

The blonde winced a little in pain as she hit the ground. She was able to bounce back up fairly quickly. And take a stance opposing Regina again.

“This one is for my bunny,” Emma cringed, she was regretting this silly story to entice the kids. That was until she glanced over and saw the kids were entranced watching her and Regina. So she lunged again for Regina. This time the brunette was expecting and swung her sword to clash with Emma’s.

Both women started seriously dueling at this point, forgetting they were supposed to be teaching basics and solely concentrated on beating each other. They lunged, they swung at each other, they grunted and they sprinted after each other; they both dodged and kept getting further and further away from the class. So much so the kids got up and started following them around to continue watching the fight. Alice and Robyn had to run a little to keep up with the action.

Snow was carrying around Neal when Emma and Regina came past her dueling. She stood with her son in her arms open mouthed watching them. Neal clapped his hands watching the action. Her husband David walked up next to her and looked confused.

“What is going on?” David asked to Snow.

“I guess Emma is demonstrating fencing,” Snow knew only one other person who was an excellent fencer, Regina. She couldn’t stop the smile spreading across her face.

“What are you smiling for?” Her husband asked her.

“She’s dueling Regina,” Snow smiled as she watched the women continue to go after each other. She had to smirk thinking this might be a somewhat healthy way for the two women to let out their frustrations against each other.

“Really Regina? I thought she didn’t even want to come? And now she’s fencing in front of everybody?” David squinted his eyes to watch the two women duel against each other. 

“I have a feeling Emma coaxed her into this,” Snow smiled as she and David started walking, so they could continue watching the duel play out across the campgrounds.

When the two women stopped dueling for a moment to catch their breaths and for their audience too. Regina and Emma stood still for a few seconds, poised ready to pounce on one another. 

“Swan! Say goodbye to your bunny,” Regina reached underneath her purple fencing jacket and pulled out a squashed stuffed bunny. She then proceeded to use the sword to overly dramatically pretend to stab the stuffed bunny.

Some of the kids cheered, some gasped and some were on the verge of tears, the mark of a truly great performance.

“Holy fu…” Emma stopped herself from saying the whole curse word. “Bunny!”

Regina then tossed the stuffed bunny into the audience of kids. Where one kid yelled she could save it, she was going to be a veterinarian when she grew up.

Emma charged Regina, running towards the brunette. Regina started sprinting towards the lake and ran out on the docks where they started dueling again. Emma came at Regina fast and hard. Finally, after a few masterful moves she got the upper hand. And with one big swing, she caught Regina off balance and the brunette went crashing down into the lake.

“Take that! Bunnynapper,” Emma raised her hands over her head in a victorious pose, the sword glistening in the sunlight.

The kids cheered, they were enjoying this spectacle. Emma dropped her sword, tore off her headgear and looked over the dock into the water, slightly worried about Regina. She finally popped up out of the light brown water and yanked her headgear off, revealing her face. More cheers and a few shocked gasps from the kids. Alice zoomed in making sure to capture Regina’s face. Emma stared down at Regina whose face was red running around in the fencing gear and also red with rage.

“You okay?” Emma leaned down further to offer her hand to Regina.

Regina’s face softened, “Yes, I’m fine. You actually fence quite well,” she smiled up at Emma.

Emma couldn’t help a goofy smile spread across her face, staring back into Regina’s surprisingly smiling eyes. She took off her gloves and offered her hand to Regina.

Before she knew what happened, Emma had relaxed her grip, lured in by Regina’s warm smile then she felt her body yanked down into the murky lake water. She flailed around in the water in the now very heavy fencing outfit.

“Sore loser,” Emma stared hard at Regina as she swam closer to her and got up in her face. “That wasn’t really my bunny you stabbed was it?”

Regina smiled a wicked grin to Emma. “I do hope you said goodbye to your little friend.”

*****

After being knocked into the lake, Regina went back to the office cabin to clean up. Emma went back to get into her bathing suit, she thought it was the perfect time to get back into the lake. Since, they had to do something with her small group it was good timing. She met up with her small group of kids and Elsa as they decided to go swimming in the lake, and try out the big blob. They swam, jumped on and got thrown in the air too many times to count before the sun set and they had to clean up before dinner. Emma only had enough time to throw on her clothes over her one-piece bathing suit; she deemed a bikini a bit much for summer camp with kids. She decided to shower later because she was starving, she told Henry the same thing; grab some clothes and they would clean up after dinner.

Emma sat down across from Regina at the camp dining room, the brunette made a scrunched up face.

“Miss Swan, you smell terrible,” Regina raised her eyebrows and leaned back in her chair. “Try not to put anyone down wind of you, especially me.”

“I’ve been on the lake all afternoon with my group. You should have seen Henry,” Emma had a huge smile on her face.

Just then Henry bounded up and gave his mom a hug. His smaller arms wrapped around his mom and grinned.

“Henry, you smell just as bad as Miss Swan,” Regina returned the hug with a slightly disgusted look on her face.

“We got to try the blob on the first day,” Henry said excitedly. “You should have seen Emma.” He laughed and pointed at the blonde.

Emma smiled at Henry as he beamed back at her. She then glanced at Regina and saw the scowl on her face.

“We’ll make sure we are clean and showered before bed time, right Henry?” Emma gave a fist bump to Henry.

Henry bumped Emma’s fist then sat down next to her as the two blob enthusiasts tore into their hamburger and fries.

“How did your class go mom?” Henry asked with this mouth full of fries.

“Yeah, how did it go?” Emma unconsciously mimicking her new young friend, talking with her mouth full of fries.

“It went fine,” Regina didn’t want to elaborate that she had a hard time maintaining the focus of a room of kids, scared employees were much easier to command. Kids asked her questions constantly, she didn’t even finish her business model lesson plan. She would have to wait another day until her next class.

Regina watched the two of them together and shook her head. Clearly, getting thrown off some large inflated monstrosity into murky lake water has bonded her son and her blonde co-worker even further. Although, she hated to admit she hadn’t seen Henry bond with someone so quickly, he seemed to really like having the Emma around. Regina thought, what if the cryptic remark by Emma last night were to come true and she did leave and go back to Boston. That thought angered Regina, how dare this woman bond with her son then leave him.

The gathering around the campfire after dinner was extremely large due to the fact all the kids were here. There were tables set up for s’mores and all the kids were giddy loading up their sticks with marshmallows and toppings. Snow got her favorite part of the camp started by telling a story about a young girl who defeated a dragon. David helped her tell the story while Neal sat in Regina’s lap. Toddler Neal seemed to be completely taken with Aunt Regina as always every time the little guy got to see the brunette. All the kids stayed enthralled with the fairy tale story and cheered at the ending. Emma watched the whole thing from the sidelines. She enjoyed seeing Regina with Neal and Henry with his new friends.

After Snow’s story, Regina sat alone on a bench log, she drank a mug of decaf coffee as she watched all the kids running around enjoying themselves, and she smiled. Emma came up and sat down next to her, biting on her recently smoking s’more.

“Want some?” Emma offered her traditional s’more to Regina.

“No, thank you,” Regina scoffed and waved a hand in front of her nose. “When are you taking a shower?”

“I don’t smell that bad, I smell like nature,” Emma licked marshmallow goo off her fingers.

“You smell like wet dog and…” Regina inhaled, “…over processed sugar.”

Emma couldn’t help a little snort that escaped her lips, she smiled over at Regina.

“You shouldn’t have showered after you fell in the lake. You could match Henry and me in smelling like dogs,” Emma shoved the rest of her s’more in her mouth.

“You really shouldn’t have pushed me off into the lake,” Regina squinted her eyes at Emma.

“I didn’t push you off, I won our match fair and square.”

“No, you had the unfair advantage of a rickety dock,” Regina replied back and got an eye roll in return from the blonde.

“Well, we will just have to have a rematch,” Emma said with a sparkle in her eyes as she challenged Regina to another dueling match.

“You’ll be the one in the lake this time,” Regina stared into Emma’s eyes.

“Keep dreaming lady,” Emma stared back, she felt her stomach grow warm, she blamed the s’more which might have been too hot when she ate it.

Regina really did hope they had a duel rematch because she was going to kick Emma Swan’s ass for sure this time. And this gave her another idea.

“Since, I helped with her your class. Would you care to return the favor?” Regina asked while taking a sip of her coffee and eyeing Emma.

Emma furrowed her brow, “Uh, sure. Am I going to regret this?” She stood up and stretched, she winced in pain.

“Are you okay?” Regina asked. “Henry, didn’t get hurt on that inflated monstrosity along with you, did he?” She watched Emma wobble slightly as she reached with her arm to touch her back.

Emma then pointed over to Henry who was jumping up and down with some of his new camp friends.

“You’re a little old to be jumping off diving boards onto big inflated toys that propel your body into the air…” Regina tilted her head, “…you’re the one who’s going to break a hip.” Regina throwing the same dig that Emma had thrown at her. Seeing as she was the COO, she might have pulled Emma’s human resources file to check references and find out that Emma was only two years younger than she was.

“Wanna s’more this time? C’mon…” Emma teased. “…you know you want some over processed sugar, rich dark chocolate and gelatin smeared all over your lips.” She did not want to think of Regina’s lips smeared with s’mores because then her brain was going to join her body and react to that image of licking said sugar coated lips. Then her mind would wander further and think about kissing sugar coated lips. She really needed to shut down all these thoughts, it was not a good idea to lust after your bossy boss, no matter how delicious their lips appeared to be.

*****

Emma winced in pain as she exited the bathroom, she didn’t know she had gotten so much sun while playing on the lake. Pain was radiating all over her back from a horrible sunburn.

Regina pulled her glasses down on her nose a bit and looked up from her laptop at Emma. The blonde’s back was very red and looked painful.

“Miss Swan, did you not put any sunscreen on?” Regina watched as Emma waddled around the room in pain.

“I did, I just couldn’t reach my back. See everything else is fine,” Emma made a slow sweeping motion with her hands over her arms, legs and face. “Damn, and on the first day,” Emma gingerly reached out and poked her back. “Is my back red?”

“That’s a stupid question even for you,” Regina removed her glasses and stood up.

“Is it cold in here?” Emma shivered a little.

“No, that’s your sunburn. We’re not turning off the air conditioning,” Regina let a very large sigh. “Is my son this sunburned after your lollygagging on that inflated monstrosity?”

“Of course not, Regina,” Emma looked up and into Regina’s eyes. “I made sure to smother him in sunscreen. He was a little put off, he said thanks a lot ‘mom’, it sounded more like a curse word.” She smiled recalling the look on Henry’s face.

Regina had a wave of relief wash over her; she didn’t want her baby all sunburned. She was surprised Emma took such serious precaution regarding her son; it made her feel generous towards her blonde co-worker.

“Emma, I have something that might help you,” Regina said while glancing to Emma.

Emma stared at Regina, she didn’t want to think of the first thing that came to her mind when the stunning brunette woman said she had something to help her. Then felt a stab of pain on her shoulders and remembered her sunburn and not the other burning in her lower regions. Emma was wearing her boy shorts and tank top, her red back in extreme contrast to her white tank top.

“Lay down on my bed, take your shirt off,” Regina pointed to her bed.

Emma felt her throat go dry, she didn’t realize how much she wanted to hear those words until Regina had said them, yet in a different context. A context that she also wanted to include taking pants off as well. Emma wanted to slap her brain, these kinds of thoughts were not going to be helpful during this long two week cohabitation with Regina. She shook her head; she really needed to stop reading comments on that damn video that people kept suggesting her and Regina make out. She did as she was told; she waited for Regina to turn around before yanking off her tank top carefully and laying face down on Regina’s bed. She inhaled as soon as her face touched Regina’s pillow, it smelled damn good like the brunette.

Regina pretended to be looking for something in her bag while she waited for Emma to take off her tank top. She didn’t want the blonde topless and on her bed, yet the idiot’s sunburn looked rather painful.

“I made a home remedy for whenever Henry gets sunburned, which is rare since he has the sense to wear the appropriate sunscreen all over his skin,” Regina couldn’t help scold Emma for getting such a terrible sunburn on the first official day. “Or someone else has the sense to put it on him.” She conceded.

“What is it?” Emma turned her head around and looked at the tube of ointment in Regina’s hands. “Are you doing the shaving cream hack?”

“Do I look like a hack?” Regina had her hands on her hips; she was still wearing her khaki pants and SnowArcher camp t-shirt and still managed to look regal.

“True, there’s nothing hacky about you,” Emma grinned into Regina’s pillow.

“It’s aloe vera mixed in with some other healing herbs,” Regina squeezed some of the ointment onto her hand, she slowly lowered and sat on the bed next to Emma. As soon as she lightly touched Emma’s red bare skin back, the blonde jerked up. “Okay, be still. I don’t want this all over my bed.” She started firmer, long strokes of rubbing in the ointment.

Emma wiggled a little on the bed, willing to calm down her nerves. She never dreamed she would be topless laying down on Regina’s bed with her boss rubbing some weird smelling ointment all over her back gently at first and now more firmly. The sensations running through her body at the moment were varying wildly from slightly painful, the damn sunburn, to extremely pleasant because Regina had very nice hands and she appeared to be a skilled masseuse.

Regina ran her hands over again and again on Emma’s bare back, massaging in the ointment. She reached over, squirted some more ointment on her palm then started rubbing up and down Emma’s arms. Emma’s skin was so soft, she found herself getting lost in the touch and feel of the bare skin. She wanted to feel more of Emma’s skin, she had to shake her head because she realized she wanted to rub more than just her hands over the blonde’s naked flesh.

Emma was glad Regina couldn’t see her face. She was pretty sure her eyes rolled back in her head and she stifled down a moan. She didn’t know if it was Regina’s hands or the special homemade ointment but her back was already feeling better. And now her arms, she hadn’t noticed how red her arms got too. Or was Regina just being overly cautious as usual.

“Hmmmm…smells nice,” Emma said in a slow, sleepy voice. That wasn’t the only nice thing, but thankfully Emma’s didn’t voice that part. She didn’t want to voice the heat seared into her skin on her back felt like it traveled and nestled in between her legs.

Emma’s eyes shot wide open when she felt Regina’s hands go lower and rub her legs. She felt weird with Regina rubbing her legs, especially getting closer to an area she really wanted her to rub. She had to push down a deep moan.

“I’m not….uuhhh….burned there,” Emma managed to choke out as Regina’s hand continued to administer heavenly delight over her legs.

“It’s a little pink there,” Regina just stated matter-of-factly as if reading off something as her hands danced dangerously close to Emma’s ass.

Regina hoped her voice and tone didn’t sound odd. She admitted she felt slightly light headed running and rubbing her hands all over Emma’s body, it’s as if all the blood left her brain and traveled straight down to her lower regions. In one way, it felt odd to be touching Emma in this intimate way, then she realized in another way it felt entirely comfortable; as if they had done this before. Despite the anger and irritation she felt towards the blonde sometimes, there was also at times this rather illogical ease with her, almost as if they had known each other in another life. She realized she wouldn’t mind keeping her hands on Emma all the time and thought of the blonde in her bed back at home, that’s when she snapped out and wanted to stop her administrations.

Before Emma lost her mind, Regina moved up and smothered her arms in the ointment then moved back to shoulders again. Emma felt so cozy and comfortable, breathing in Regina’s scent, having Regina’s hands massaging her; actually feeling Regina hands on her body. Before she knew it, Emma drifted off to sleep.

Regina could feel Emma go even more limp under her hands and her breathing changed. She stopped moving her hands.

“Miss Swan, you had better not be asleep,” Regina peered down into Emma’s face. She didn’t want to admit how adorable the blonde idiot looked sleeping. “Emma…Emma….” Regina tried again.

It was no use; Emma was in a deep sleep in her bottom bunk bed. Regina sighed and did one more sweep over Emma’s bare back; she slowly lifted her hands away. She then pulled the covers up and over the sleeping blonde.

“Looks like I’m a top tonight,” Regina turned off the bathroom light then made her way back to the bunk bed.

Regina pulled herself on the ladder and now knew why Emma didn’t want to climb up and down the ladder. The ladder was just thin enough to cut into one’s feet in a sharp jabbing pain way. She stretched out on Emma’s bed and put her feet under the covers. The bedding wasn’t as nice as hers of course, but the sheets and blanket did smell like Emma; and she liked the smell. She felt something under the covers; she pulled out the SnowArcher stuffed bunny. Regina would never admit this to anyone ever; she hugged the stuffed bunny to her chest. She found herself dozing off faster than usual.


	7. The Herbivores vs The Carnivores

Emma woke up the next morning, once again disoriented; she looked around the office cabin. She was sleeping in Regina’s bottom bunk. And she was topless.

“Good morning, Miss Swan,” Regina said where she was sitting at the desk going over some paperwork. She peered down over her glasses at Emma.

This action seemed to make Emma feel even more naked than just being topless. She felt a heat start from her cheeks and travel down the length of her body, landing smack in the middle. She looked down, shook her head a little and tried to dislodge the beginning throbbing in her lower regions.

“Regina…” Emma held the sheet and blanket close to her chest, she pulled them down briefly to confirm what she already felt, that she was topless. “Uh, why am I topless and in your bed?” She tried to muster some swagger. “I mean usually, you gotta buy me a drink first.”

Regina rolled her eyes at Emma and pushed her glasses back up her nose and went back to her paperwork.

“I’m kidding, I’m not that easy. And it’s been a long time since…I…uhhh had a drink,” Emma cringed, did she really just tell Regina about her sex life in a vague stupid metaphor?

Regina didn’t look up from her paperwork. “I’m sure you’re lying.” She made a notation on something. “I had a drink before coming here.”

Emma’s eyes got wide. “You did?” She wondered if Regina had a secret lover or partner that nobody at the office knew about. And then she momentarily got grossed out wondering about the Rob rumor.

Regina looked up from her work; she thought she saw disappointment in Emma’s eyes for some reason. Weren’t they just talking about drinking alcohol?

“Yes, I had a few glasses of wine,” Regina lowered her glasses again and looked over in confusion to the blonde who looked very comfortable in her bed. She didn’t want to think of a topless Emma in her bed, she felt her cheeks go warm.

Emma smiled a big genuine smile. She felt relieved for some reason; Regina really did think they were talking about drinks. She should not care about Regina’s sex life as much as she does.

“Oh yeah, me too,” Emma replied back. “I meant uh….hard liquor,” Emma didn’t want to think of a juvenile thing in her head how ‘liquor’ sounded like ‘lick her’; she really needed to start hanging out with older people.

“You just said you haven’t had a drink in a while,” Regina lowered her glasses again to stare at Emma.

Regina wondered if the blonde was ever going to get out of her bed? She was topless in her bed and appeared to be just lounging, Regina shifted in her chair. She did not want to acknowledge there was possibly moisture pooling in her underwear because a certain bare-chested blonde that wouldn’t get out of her bottom bunk. How would Emma like it if she just lounged around topless in her bunk, Regina thought. She didn’t really know and now she realized she actually did want to know that information. She tried to control her thoughts again, being topless around a co-worker seemed rather unprofessional; yes, this was the line of thinking her brain needed to be traveling down and not continued thoughts of either of them being shirtless with each other.

There was a knock on the door. Both women turned to look at each other.

“Where’s my tank top?” Emma asked in a hurried tone.

“Where did you toss it?” Regina asked in an agitated tone.

“I didn’t toss it,” Emma replied back in a sassy tone as she sat up fully holding the sheet to her chest. “Wow, my back feels all better. What was that stuff? Was it magic?” She moved her arms around, happy not to feel any discomfort at all.

Regina got up from the desk and walked to the door.

“I’m just going to tell whoever to go away.”

Emma leaned over the bed looking for her lost tank top, feeling weird and self-conscious if anybody found her in Regina’s bed almost completely naked. She thought in the big picture, they were both consenting adults. However, they were professional colleagues and technically Regina was her boss, so she kind of hoped it wasn’t Snow on the other side of that door.

Regina opened a crack and was surprised to see Snow there and before she could say anything, the CEO pushed the door aside and walked in.

Snow looked a little stunned taking in the scene, Emma appeared to still be in bed possibly naked and Regina was working. She wondered if Emma was a nudist of some sort or just slept naked. She thought Regina, would not be happy about either options. Then she remembered that Regina wanted the bottom bunk, which meant that Emma was possibly naked in Regina’s bed. She tilted her head as more thoughts came running into her head. She really liked Emma but she didn’t want Regina to get hurt. She didn’t want another Rob incident. Snow was surprised something would have happened so quickly between the two women, but then again they had pretty much been each other’s favorite topic of conversation since they met months ago. And there was a lot of intense eye staring going on between the two women. 

There was an awkward silence in the room as the three woman stayed motionless, eyes darting around the room.

Emma felt her cheeks go hot; she wanted to crawl under the covers and hide.

Regina felt sweaty all of a sudden, and then she wanted to slap herself for feeling that way. She wasn’t doing anything wrong. This was a completely innocent situation. She had helped a work colleague with a mild physical injury. And even if it was romantic or sexual, what difference does it make who she slept with, well except she did install a pretty rigid dating policy at the company after that horrid Rob incident.

“Emma fell asleep in my bed,” Regina said to Snow, getting a truly confused expression in return. “…without me in it. “ She clarified, hoping her boss would understand.

“Yeah, Regina was giving me a massage…” Emma added then cringed after speaking.

Regina pinched the bridge of her nose because what Emma said sounded even worse. “Because this idiot got herself completely sunburned on the first day.”

Emma realized her mistake and tried to recover from it.

“Yes, I did…really bad sunburn…that’s why I’m not wearing a shirt…I’m airing my back out,” Emma jabbered on. “Regina, rubbed me down with some aloe vera.”

Regina glared at Emma while Snow looked between the two women even more puzzled. Did Emma have to use the word ‘rub’? She hated to admit that was one of those words that sounded overtly sexual to her; she unconsciously ran her hand through her hair. 

“Did you know she makes magic potions?” Emma stood up and wrapped Regina’s bed sheet around her torso. “She’s got magic hands too,” Emma said without thinking again, two heads snapped to stare at her in slight bewilderment. “But it’s more about the magic potions. And cider.” Emma pointed her finger at Regina then Snow. “Have you had her apple cider? She should sell it.” Emma wanted to pull the bed sheet over her head, she was rambling and couldn’t stop. She felt awkward standing topless talking to two of her bosses, not to mention one boss who was also an Olympic Gold medalist treasure. “At like one of those farmer’s markets.” Emma slowly crept towards the bathroom to escape her running mouth.

“Yes, my dream is to sell my cider at some glorified and overpriced hipster artisanal organic farmer’s market that pop up all over the city,” Regina crossed her arms against her chest.

“Hey, go after your dream,” Emma smiled at Regina, who scowled back in return. “I’m going to use the bathroom real quick.” She closed the bathroom door and on the side of the door alone, she closed her eyes and sighed.

Regina then noticed Emma’s tank top peaking out from under the bed, she walked over casually, picked it up and then waltzed over to the bathroom door. She tried opening the door but something was against it, she pushed harder and heard a small ‘ooomph’ when a small crack opened, she was able to throw the tank top inside. She then heard a muffled, ‘Thanks!’ yelled through the door.

Snow watched this scene and couldn’t help smile. Even though she was still worried for Regina, she knew whatever was going on with Emma would never be a Rob incident. For one, even despite being in the lake for hours Emma still smelled better than Rob. And two, she never saw Rob hang out with Henry. She had noticed Emma and Henry hanging out together at the office and now here at camp, they really enjoyed spending time together. She then realized she barged into the office cabin for a reason; she needed to talk to Regina.

“Regina, I came over here because Robyn and Alice just showed me the footage from yesterday and it’s really great. I wanted to get your blessing to post it,” Snow smiled at Regina with hopeful eyes.

“Can you see my face?” Regina asked with a stern look.

“Yes, at the very end you can. I think that’s what really sells it. The reveal!” Snow motioned with her hand in a silly dramatic gesture. “Not to mention, you and Emma look outstanding in the SnowArcher fencing gear, we couldn’t have gotten two better models.” Snow rubbed her hand on Regina’s arm. “And you incorporated a small story, the kids loved it and I think other people will to who watch the YouTube.”

Regina rolled her eyes; she did not want to be in another video. And she certainly didn’t want to be seen as some villain in a series of product videos. The only good part was that her face was only visible at the very end. She knew that Alice had gotten footage of her face and she knew her niece was an accomplice. Those two were entirely too chummy already.

Emma came out of the bathroom in her recovered tank top, boy shorts and her hair up in a ponytail. Regina noticed Emma wasn’t wearing a bra because of getting hastily dressed in the bathroom without all her clothes. She stared at Emma’s chest, she could see her nipples were erect due to the air conditioning blasting all the time; she then wanted to slap herself for gawking too long. She really hoped Emma didn’t notice and really hoped Snow hadn’t paid attention either.

“Emma, the video you two shot yesterday was great. I’m trying to convince Regina to let us post it,” Snow smiled at Emma then turned to focus on Regina.

“When she says, ‘post it’ she means tell someone who knows how to work a simple smartphone because Snow can’t even find her email sometimes. She’s an emoji mess too.” Regina walked back to her laptop and put her glasses back on. “Fine, post it.”

Snow smirked at Regina and then turned to Emma with a wide smile.

“I’ll tell Alice to post it right away Snow,” Emma replied back and couldn’t help get excited to see if the internet would like seeing Regina again. And more specifically, to see if the Internet liked seeing Regina getting taken down this time and maybe if people still wanted to see them kiss.

*****

Regina and Emma entered the camp cafeteria together for breakfast. Regina noticed Robyn and Alice sitting together across the room, they were laughing and their arms were touching on the table.

“Miss Swan…are they flirting?” Regina’s eyebrows were seriously furrowed as she watched the two younger women from across the dining hall.

“I believe they are,” Emma replied not looking up at Regina or glancing over to the two young women who she knew were flirting with each other. She thought they made an adorable couple. And they had been flirting like crazy since they met each other yesterday. At the rate they were going they were going to be either married or adopt some animal together at the end of the two weeks.

“Well, go over there and put a stop to it,” Regina demanded to Emma.

“Why? They seem to like each other.” Emma let out a dramatic sigh. “Maybe it will be a summer romance or something even bigger,” Emma didn’t look at Regina; she pretended to be enthralled by something on her phone. Why would she squash the joy of Alice and possibly Robyn?

“My niece is not going to have a fling with some hillbilly friend of yours,” Regina crossed her arms against her chest and stared down at Emma, willing her to look up.

“Hey, Alice is a wonderful young woman supporting herself through college by working full time and studying engineering. Robyn would be so lucky.” Emma finally looked up at Regina and stared at her intensely.

“No one is getting lucky,” Regina marched over to Alice and Robyn.

“Yeah, it’s looking that way,” Emma grumbled, she bowed her head in temporary defeat and followed after Regina. Why was this woman such a killjoy sometimes? Why did hearing the words no one was getting lucky feel like a slap in the face?

“I need coffee,” Emma mumbled as soon as they approached Alice and Robyn.

“I’ll get you some boss,” Alice jumped up and sprung into action and sprinted towards the kitchen, Robyn ran after her.

Regina huffed watching her niece following love struck behind Emma’s assistant. Emma couldn’t hold down a small smile watching Regina’s frustration. Emma moved slowly over to a table, sat down and put her head on the table. Regina sat down next to her and opened her binder to go over her schedule for the day. She watched Emma curiously. Her mind flashed back to the night before, maybe her frustration of seeing her niece so openly infuriated with the younger blonde woman had her thinking of a certain other blonde. A blonde who slept topless in her bed all night while she had some rather pornographic dreams above her and staring her. 

Regina let out a deep sigh. “How is your back?” She had hoped Emma’s back would be better, but she didn’t want the blonde to take that special treatment for granted, she wasn’t here to nurse the blonde’s idiotic bodily injuries. Next time, if the blonde got hurt, she would send Emma to Granny. Plus, she didn’t really want to have her hands all over Emma again, she feared she might not be able to stop next time. Her checks felt sunburned themselves thinking of Emma topless again. 

Emma sat up and smiled at Regina, “It’s actually amazing, my sunburn is completely gone like magic. Your potion is powerful.” She did wonder what the hell Regina made that home remedy with; she had never seen a sunburn disappear like hers had overnight. Of course maybe sleeping in Regina’s bed helped, she didn’t want to admit she enjoyed sleeping in the brunette’s bed and then she really didn’t want to acknowledge she might have enjoyed it even more if the woman had actually been in the bed with her.

Regina straightened her shoulders to an even more pristine posture and looked entirely too smug for her own good, Emma thought.

“Don’t expect that treatment every night, that’s all you’re getting,” Regina stared into Emma’s eyes as the blonde gazed back at her in return. “I didn’t want to hear you whine for the next two weeks over your first day sunburn.”

Suddenly, Alice and Robyn showed up at the table with coffees and breakfast burritos.

“Good morning, ladies,” Regina plastered a fake smile as she looked back and forth between Alice and Robyn as they sat down opposite and way too close to each other. “Sleep well? Separately, in your own cabins?”

Alice and Robyn looked to each other with smirks and raised eyebrows to each other. Emma rolled her eyes.

“This the best Aunt Gina, thanks for bringing me,” Robyn meant this statement for her aunt but she was only staring at Alice.

Emma had to hold down a chuckle the way Regina glared at the young couple obviously in love or in smitten or whatever cutesy dopey thing was going on between them.

“Robyn, I’m going to need your help all day with my class and other things,” Regina demanded to her niece.

“Regina, we are shooting a video after breakfast, we need Robyn,” Emma said while stuffing her face with her burrito. “Then all of us have the predator and prey game for the rest of the day.”

Regina crossed her arms against her chest; she had yet to touch her burrito.

“Then I was going to the lake later,” Robyn said almost crest fallen, having been summoned by her aunt when it was practically written on her face that she wanted to stay in Alice’s company all day.

Emma sighed. “Regina, your class is after mine, so I’ll come over and help you.” She wasn’t really looking forward to helping Regina with a business class. A business class with kids, she internally groaned.

Regina turned and glared cold eyes at Emma, she knew what the blonde was up to, covering so the two young women could be together. “Fine. Don’t be late Miss Swan.”

The brunette was about to take a sip of her coffee when she heard the morning shouting starting. She stood up and walked over to Henry to check on him before the obnoxious yelling hit his table.

“WE’VE GOT CAMP SPIRIT YES WE DO! WE’VE GOT CAMP SPIRIT, HOW ABOUT YOU!” Echoed once again throughout the dining hall.

Emma laughed, she was willing to bet if kids hadn’t been present that Regina would have shot her the finger as she left in a huff. She would probably regret encouraging Robyn and Alice’s relationship only because of Regina, but she had a good feeling about the young lovebirds.

After Emma had finished her breakfast burrito and two cups of coffee she was ready for her class of the day. Her and the kids were going to make a video testing raingear and SnowArcher food products, she had decided to only have one burrito since she knew she would be eating during the testing. Alice and Robyn had set up an area outside for the video. There was a table with a big display of SnowArcher food products, ranging from what looked like candy to cookies to tube things that looked like toothpaste.

Emma really had no idea how she had turned into a host of sorts. She never dreamed she would be hosting any type of anything. Before Robyn gave her the cue, she took a deep breath and put on a big practiced smile. At least she knew almost all the products backwards and forwards, being a store manager and doing inventory every quarter had been immensely helpful, the only products she really needed to study were the new ones. Robyn gave her the hand signal, so Emma started her somewhat rehearsed speech.

“Hi, we are here at the first ever SnowArcher Camp and we’re going to test some of our food, raingear and sunglasses. And I’m very fortunate to have these nice kids here to help me with all this,” Emma talked in the camera then made a sweeping hand motion and Robyn followed, filming the display on the table with all the products.

Emma walked over and stood at the front of the table, the kids were already seated on benches along the sides of the long table. They waved to the camera as Robyn walked around getting everyone in the shot.

“First, we’re going to try the organic energy chews,” Emma leaned down, grabbed one of the packets, she motioned to all the kids to do the same and tore it open. “Only eat two chewy things as we don’t want you kids up until midnight roaming the forest.” Then she paused and looked directly into the camera, “Kidding, there are no children roaming the forest after dark.” She figured Regina wouldn’t appreciate the joke, she could hear the brunette now in her head, ‘We’re going to get sued.’

Henry of course was part of the group of kids, Emma smiled to herself, she didn’t know how the kid kept getting put in her groups but she would miss him if he wasn’t here.

Emma walked around, helping any kid open their packet if they were having a problem then she watched as they started eating the organic energy chews.

“Taste like rubber,” one boy said.

“These are just like vitamins I eat, my mom makes me.” Was one response, which Emma took as negative feedback.

“Are there any banana flavored ones?” one young girl asked.

Emma looked at that young girl puzzled, banana flavored?

“Okay, so not a great reception for the organic energy chews. We will be discussing your input with our chewy engineers,” Emma helped the kids move those packets aside, then handed them a new packet. “Now, let’s try the protein caramel waffle cookies.”

The kids’ faces seemed to light up at the word cookies. Emma opened her packet and took a large bite of the protein caramel waffle cookie. Admittedly, she had them before, they were actually one of her favorite SnowArcher products. All the waffle cookies were eaten and the kids asked for more.

“There it is, the SnowArcher protein caramel waffle cookies are a big hit,” Emma raised another cookie in the air then shoved it in her mouth. After she got down a few swallows, she started talking again. “Now the last food product to test is the energy gel shot, which is only for me.” This was the toothpaste looking product.

There were some whiny noises from the table.

“It’s only because I’m taller and the company insures me,” Emma looked directly into the camera, “They do, don’t they?”

Robyn moved the camera up and down then back and forth in confusion. Emma ripped open the energy gel packet and squeezed it into her mouth. She couldn’t help but make some disgusted faces and held down her gag reflex, which elicited giggles from her young crowd.

“Tastes like glue paste,” Emma reached for a water bottle and drank quickly from it. She then spit on the ground. “Uh, we might need to work on that flavoring a bit.” She was afraid Regina might kill her for that remark, yet she had to be truthful on these videos, that was the whole point.

The kids were excited for the next part where they all got polarized sunglasses to keep, all from the kids line of SnowArcher. Emma smiled, she thought the kids were going to be even more excited as the days wore on and they got more and more gear to take home. That part was actually Regina’s idea and it made her stomach all warm and tingly.

Emma now put on a rain poncho, the kids giggled at her. Alice had run off and kept returning with two buckets each time filled with water. And on her last trip she pulled a water hose with her attached to the nearby dining hall.

“Now, we’re going to test our raingear,” Emma pronounced as Alice walked around giving each kid a medium sized bucket with water, at the very end she handed the water hose to Henry. “When I say go, throw all the water on me. Got it?”

Several of the kids yelled back at Emma excitedly, they raised their buckets in anticipation.

“Go! Make it rain!” Emma yelled and squeezed her eyes shut as all the kids circled her and threw buckets and buckets of water on her. Then she felt a constant stream of water from the hose that Henry aimed at her. And very quickly her clothes were soaked, so more negative product feedback to give to Regina and Snow.

*****

Emma barged into Regina’s class late in drenched clothes; her SnowArcher t-shirt clung to her chest showing off the sports bra underneath. Regina looked at the blonde, she was puzzled and wondered if it was raining outside. It was one of the traditional classrooms with tables all lined up facing the front. Regina was up at the front doing a PowerPoint slideshow about business statistics and other really boring details as far as Emma could see. She slid into a chair at a table in the back.

“Thank you for joining us, Miss Swan. I would like the class to notice the tardiness of Miss Swan and not do this in a real business meeting. It’s very bad etiquette and will cost you jobs,” Regina snarked and then went back to her PowerPoint.

After about ten more minutes of her presentation Regina looked over to Emma who was making a motion with her hand. She waved her arms around the room; it appeared most the kids had fallen asleep. She decided to change tactics.

In a loud voice to wake up most of the kids, Regina explained, “For the rest of the class, why don’t you tell me your favorite toy or restaurant and we can discuss the company behind it? The brand, development and if there is an IPO.” Regina smoothed her hands down her khaki pants, she missed her skirts and blouses; she wasn’t used to wearing t-shirts and for so many days consecutively.

Emma wanted to roll her eyes, this was boring; but she held back out of respect for the kids. Regina needed to change her lesson plan. This class was a snoozefest.

Regina walked around the room as the kids each spoke of their favorite toys or places they liked to eat or even a movie. When she got to the table Emma was sitting at, she looked on perplexed, as the blonde was so fidgety she practically bounced out of the chair. Emma’s knees were so jittery under the table while her hands drummed the top of it, that’s what happens when you have two chewy energy things and one shot of energy gel. The brunette sat down next to Emma and discreetly put her hand under the table to stop Emma’s knee from bouncing. Regina’s hand stayed on Emma’s bare knee.

Emma’s knee did stop bouncing immediately, she stared at Regina and tried to fathom while the brunette had her warm, soft hand on her knee. Her face felt hot and she licked her lips unconsciously. She scolded her body for wanting Regina’s hand to wander higher up her leg. 

A young girl, the only one that was actually engaged in the class the whole time, started asking a long question to Regina. The brunette kept her hand firmly on the blonde’s knee to stop all the bouncing.

Emma couldn’t control her bouncing knees, all the energy stuff was making her giddy and extremely fidgety. And Regina’s hand on her knee was intensifying it. She tapped her fingers on the table. She tried not to focus on Regina’s hand on her knee. As her tapping continued, Regina dug her fingernails into Emma’s skin.

While the young girl talked on, Regina leaned into Emma and whispered in her ear. “Sit still.” She had no idea why Emma rushed into her classroom looking like she came in from a rainstorm and now acting like she was hopped on ten gallons of coffee. “Why are you so wet?” She pulled her hand from Emma’s knee as it stopped bouncing up and down.

Emma paused for a moment, Regina touching her knee and leaning into her, she could feel her breathe on her check and in her ear; she was getting wet and not just on the outside.

“We’re going to need to redesign the rain poncho,” Emma said while running her fingers through her damp hair and shaking it out. “And the energy gel shot thing, that tastes nasty.” She put her hands back on the table and tapped them repeatedly in more boundless energy. “Try ingesting two energy chews and that paste, let’s see how you sit still.”

Regina pursed her lips and then had an idea.

“Thank you for the detailed and thought provoking question Becky,” Regina warmly smiled at the young girl as she stood up from her chair next to Emma. “I’m going to think about that and give you an answer in the next class.”

Regina stood back up at the front. “We have a fellow SnowArcher employee with us, Emma.” Regina pointed to Emma who once again was shaking out her damp hair. She stood up in her khaki shorts and SnowArcher t-shirt where she rolled up the sleeves to show off her muscled arms, Regina only glanced over the toned arms; not wanting to linger but indeed lingering.

“Hi, I’m the Vice President of…” Emma stared then was cut off by her superior.

“New Development and Strategy,” Regina stated to the class.

“When did my title change?” Emma stared at Regina completely bewildered.

“Last week, I sent you an email,” Regina glanced over to Emma, with her confused, furrowed brows, then back to the class. “In her position, it’s Emma’s job to report back some not…good news sometimes. She just tested our rain poncho and some food products. And due to her findings, we will stop manufacturing those items and look into re-designing those products or discontinue them.”

The small class looked at Emma, their interest was peeked now as they stared at the blonde.

“Your job is to eat food?” asked one young boy.

“Kind of,” Emma answered back to the kid.

“Do you get to keep the poncho?” Another kid asked to Emma.

“Maybe, I don’t know why I would want to…look at me,” Emma responded shaking out her wet hair and t-shirt, then got a scathing look from Regina.

“Do you get paid to ride bikes?” asked one young girl.

Emma smiled, they hadn’t tested the mountain bikes yet and they were saving that surprise for later; every kid was getting a new bike to take back with them. She looked over to Regina as if silently communicating if it was okay to reveal that surprise, and to her own surprise the brunette nodded yes.

“We are going to be testing our new mountain bike here at camp and we need your help,” Emma pointed at all the kids in the room who yelled quite loudly for the small-enclosed room.

“With proper supervision and the regulated safety equipment!” Regina said loudly to be heard over the excited chatter of the kids.

The small class got loud and animated very quickly after this announcement. Regina watched as most of the kids jumped out of their seats and went up to Emma. Her one star pupil, Becky, walked up to her and asked if she knew the CEO of Barbie.

After, Emma answered a few questions from the kids, they started trailing out of the room and heading outdoors. She stood up and walked over to where Regina was in a serious discussion with the young girl, Becky. The young girl finished her thought as Emma approached and left the room.

“You know I can’t be here to save all your boring classes,” Emma said as she puffed out her chest at Regina in a smug gesture.

“You mean disrupt them,” Regina went over to gather her papers and pack up her laptop.

“Those kids were falling asleep before I got here,” Emma reached into pocket for a hair band to put her hair back up in a ponytail.

Emma saw her comment actually stung a bit and she felt kind of bad. It was hard having an indoor class while everybody else is outside having fun. She kind of admired Regina for taking the hit for volunteering to do one of the indoor classes, they needed to have a few to give a well-rounded curriculum for these kids.

Emma offered her a warm smile. “That one girl really likes your class, the one that kept asking you questions.”

“Yes, the one who wants to be president of Barbie. She needs work and some polishing,” Regina finished packing up her stuff and waltzed to the door.

“She’s 12. Her LinkedIn profile will improve over the years hopefully,” Emma followed Regina outside.

*****

After lunch it was time for the entire camp to play the game Predator and Prey, an educational game teaching about nature and animals. Everyone gathered in the center of camp, with Granny and Snow on the upper deck to explain the game to everyone. Emma had never heard of the game before, she looked over to Henry who shrugged this shoulders. Regina had read up on popular school games, so she was familiar but not excited about wandering around in the woods looking for hole punchers for the cards.

As the game was explained, the entire camp was going to be divided up into three groups: Herbivores, Omnivores and Carnivores. When all the assignments were revealed, Regina was not happy she was an herbivore and that her son and Emma were once again on the same team, the carnivores. How did Henry and Emma keep ending up on the same team for everything she wondered? Her son sometimes could be clever, she had no doubt he was somehow influencing all these groupings to include his new blonde friend.

As each group was instructed, the game was to survive and to determine their basic four needs: food, air, water and shelter, although, the participants were told to focus on food and water.

Regina looked around at her group of herbivores; among her team were Alice and her young student, Becky. Three of them decided to stick together as some people were forming small groups. Ruby wandered off with fellow omnivore Dorothy with Rob trailing behind them. Robyn went off with Snow, David and toddler Neal. Regina took a deep breath before her and her fellow herbivores started wandering around trying to find their six food stations with their five life wristbands, if they ran into a carnivore they could lose one of their life bands and if they lost all five life bands then they were out of the game.

Omnivores had to find eight food items; they could find their food stations or hunt herbivores. They had to sneak up on the herbivores and tag them. They had four life bands.

Carnivore had to attain ten food items. They needed to get all their food from the herbivores and omnivores and they only got two life bands. Only hunters and natural disasters could kill carnivores.

Emma and Henry felt pretty confident about their odds as they stalked through the woods gathering their food items and learning about nature as they went. They were successful at taking life bands from many kids and Emma had fun taking one of Snow’s. Emma made sure to read all the cards to Henry and then made him read some to her. After some time, as they walked quietly through the woods, they spotted Regina, Alice and Becky off in the distance. Henry giggled with anticipation and Emma shushed him with a smile.

“Okay, kid. We gotta be stealth to sneak up on your mom,” Emma and Henry hid behind some bushes and a tree.

They devised a plan where Emma would drop from a tree surprising the trio and then Henry would swoop in for the kill, taking the life bands.

“Aha!” Emma dropped down from the tree, stumbled and then fell on her bottom. “Ouch…” she yelled as she scrambled to stand up. “Henry!”

Henry ran from a nearby tree. “Gotcha!”

Regina rolled her eyes at her son. “Henry, are you really going to take one of my life bands?”

“Yup,” Henry held out his hand for his mom’s life band with a big smile on his face.

“Even your cool cousin’s friend?” asked Alice with a hopeful smile to Henry.

“Yup,” Henry kept smiling.

“Uh…your new friend?” Becky asked shyly.

Henry nodded and reached out his hand to get Becky’s life band.

“I’m not related to any of you, hand them over,” Emma reached out to get the life bands for herself. After Becky handed hers to Emma, the blonde looked it over and then back at the young girl; she then handed the life band back to the young girl.

“Hey boss, that’s special treatment!” Alice said in mock outrage.

Regina glared at Emma. “This game is not even fair if they’re not any hunters or natural disasters to take your life bands, what’s the point?”

Emma and Henry just smiled and then ran off into the woods laughing with newly acquired life bands. After a few minutes, Emma slowed them down to take a water break.

“That was pretty fun sneaking up on my mom,” Henry smiled at Emma.

“Yeah, it was kid,” Emma smiled back as she took a sip from her water bottle.

“She likes you,” Henry said casually as he looked down at the cards they had collected so far in the game.

Emma spat out her water with a confused, almost scared expression on her face. “What? Your mom likes me? Did those words actually come out of her mouth?” She had so many thoughts running her head right now.

“She didn’t say the words but she watched your videos a lot,” Henry continued organizing his cards as he spoke.

“Well, I think she likes seeing me make a buffoon of myself,” Emma got a gulp of water down her throat this time.

“No, they made her laugh and smile, in a good way,” Henry looked from his card. “And she talks about you a lot.”

Emma was stunned; maybe the kid was reading the situation wrong. She nudged him to drink some water. “Wanna sneak up on them again?”

Before even finishing his sip Henry nodding so hard he had water dripping down his chin and throat. “Yeah! Let’s steal all their life bands.”

“Uh, maybe not all of them, your mom will kill me,” Emma smirked over to Henry. “Then maybe even you, then me again.” 

The herbivores walked along the wooded trail, three of them looking for any signs of life band stealing omnivores. Regina, Alice and Becky walked slowly past a large pile of debris and then suddenly, Emma and Henry jumped out at them from underneath, leaves flying everywhere. They were covered with leaves and dirt.

“Gotcha!” Emma and Henry both yelled, catching all three people off guard and causing them to scream. Except Regina of course.

However, the brunette’s muscles tightened and her head drew back stiffly with a very cold scowl etched on her face. 

“Miss Swan!”

Henry all covered with dirt and leaves hanging from his hair ran up to his mom, “Hand over a life band.” He looked up to his mom’s forehead vein popping out. “Please.” He added for good measure with a smile.

“I’m disappointed in you Henry,” Regina huffed with furrowed brows as she took off one of her life bands and handed it over to her grinning son.

Emma pressed her lips together tight to keep from smiling. “You’re disappointed in winning?”

“You’re both going to get ticks,” Regina deadpanned.

Emma grabbed Henry’s hand and they took off running down the trail.

As the game continued on, Regina and her two fellow herbivores found three more food stations and were getting tired of the game. As they walked as quietly as they could, getting closer to camp, she heard a branch crunch behind her so she spun around fast and dropped kick the person. Her kick landed hard in the stomach and the person toppled over onto ground.

She heard a yelp and then, “What the hell Regina?”

“That’s what you get for trying to steal another one of our life bands,” Regina stood over Emma with a menacing tone.

“Hand them over,” Henry said in a rather affirmative tone as he jumped out from behind a tree, which got a surprised look from Emma.

“Henry!”

“Mom, it’s part of the game,” Henry shrugged but smiled the whole time.

Regina was beyond exasperated by this game. She reluctantly tore off another life band and handed one each to Emma and Henry.

“See, you still have one life band left,” Henry pointed to her wrist.

Regina squinted her eyes at her son. “You’re a terrible influence on my son,” she directed this comment at Emma.

“You say terrible, I say fun,” Emma rubbed her stomach as she glared at Regina, she tugged on Henry’s arm and they ran off into the woods.

When the game was finally over Regina, Alice and Becky had gotten all their hole punches from the food stations and each had one life band left. As they walked up to the end meeting point, Emma and Henry were there leaning on a tree eating popsicles. They had bright colors, red strawberry for Henry and purple grape for Emma, their mouths were bright colors from the frozen treats.

“Mom, we’ve decided on what animals we are,” Henry with his red colored lips and mouth looked over to Emma with her purple mouth and lips. “Emma is a lion and I’m an otter.” He said proudly to his mom.

“A lion? I thought Emma was more like a duck,” Regina responded back.

“You’re a bear,” Henry said proud of his analysis.

Regina raised her eyebrows.

“You like solitude, you have a keen sense of smell, you eat more salads than meat and you’ve got an intense, dominant stare,” Emma said all in a rush of breath staring into what was fast becoming her pair of eyes to stare into. Then she continued licking her popsicle.

“I’m not a bear,” Regina scoffed; she started walking away from Emma and Henry.

“She’s probably just mad she didn’t get a popsicle,” Emma winked to Henry.

*****

Emma and Henry found Regina in the dining hall and sat down beside her. As they ate, it was time for Regina to endure another round, which was becoming her least favorite part of camp, yelling while eating. It started off across the room. She rolled her eyes as the shouting and pounding on tables started. Emma watched Regina and started laughing.

“WE’VE GOT CAMP SPIRIT! YES WE DO! WE’VE GOT CAMP SPIRIT! HOW ABOUT YOU!”

Their table which consisted of Henry, Alice, Robyn, Ruby and some other kids waited in gleeful anticipation for their turn to yell back while pounding on the table.

“Why must we do this at every meal?” Regina lifted up her iced tea so it wouldn’t spill over this time. “I don’t think it can be good for digestion.” She tried saying loudly but it was too late, her entire table slammed their hands down again and again.

Watching Regina hold onto her tea with a scowl on her face made Emma yell louder and hold down more giggles.

After dinner, it was story time around the campfire and s’mores or as Emma called them tonight, celebratory s’mores for her and Henry’s big wins for being carnivores. After another rousing joint story by Snow and Granny, it was time for everybody to say good night and head off to bed. Henry walked over and gave his mom a tight hug and then Emma was surprised when he turned and gave her a big hug too. She put her hand over his head and hugged him back, not realizing she closed her eyes. She wanted to kick herself for almost getting misty eyed for a silly hug. She thought, Henry was probably really happy to beat his mom at the Predator and Prey game.

Emma and Regina wandered back to their office cabin along the lighted wooded path.

“Oh, crap. I gotta go find Ruby for my Tick Check,” Emma stopped walking and looked back to the other cabins.

Suddenly, Regina was so mad at herself for forgetting to do the same thing with Snow. “Damn, it. I forgot too.”

“Let’s go find them before it gets too late,” Emma started to turn around to walk back.

Regina grabbed Emma’s arm, she didn’t like what she was about to say.

“Emma…let’s just check each other out.”

Emma got a shocked look on her face then it quickly morphed into something mischievous. “Okay…yeah…let’s check each other out.” Her innuendo and her libido were screaming, ‘yes, I’m very much into the idea of seeing you in your underwear again and possibly less’; however, she wished she hadn’t unconsciously licked her lips when she replied back.

“I’m kind of hoping you do have a tick,” Regina squinted her eyes at Emma. Had the blonde licked her lips she wondered. Did Emma find her attractive? It had felt like she had when they were on a ‘date’ that one time. She had bought her several gifts and they did tend to stare at each other for too long. Even if Emma was attracted to her, they couldn’t act on their feelings, she was Emma’s superior; it would not look good. No, it’s better just to stay work colleagues, who help each other in their underwear and have roughly touched each other’s breasts for non-sexual reasons.

She really didn’t want to be in her underwear with Emma again, yet she didn’t want to go find Snow who by now would be sleepy and not the best pair of keen eyes to be looking for small bugs.

They walked back to the office cabin in silence; there was a tense energy between them and even more so when they closed the door. They stood looking at each other.

“So…let’s just go at the same time,” Emma suggested and Regina nodded back at her.

Both of them lifted their SnowArcher t-shirts over their heads then went about taking off their hiking boots and pants. Emma snuck some glances at Regina without her knowing. Regina could feel Emma’s eyes on her and smirked, she was getting more and more confident that maybe the blonde did at least fancy her body.

They both stood up in their underwear and looked up and down each other’s bodies. Emma actually enjoyed getting to blatantly stare at the barely clothed Regina. And in return the brunette thoroughly trailed her eyes up and down Emma’s toned arms and legs, with special attention paid to her stomach and neck.

“Turn around,” Regina demanded of Emma.

The blonde did as she was told. Regina went about looking over her back, Emma made sure her ponytail was out of the way.

Emma could feel Regina’s breath on her neck and she closed her eyes. Get it together Swan she thought, she’s technically your boss.

Regina had to really restrain her hands from touching Emma’s skin, from roaming her hands all over the blonde’s back. She took her time looking over every inch of Emma’s body; she bent down when she thought she heard a small gasp from the blonde.

“Lucky for you, ticks do not find you tasty,” Regina said as she slowly stood up, her eyes trailing up Emma’s body and finally landing on her eyes.

Emma smirked then went about thoroughly checking Regina out. She got on her knees and squatted in front of Regina, which gave her the perfect view of the brunette’s lace black underwear; she longed to see underneath it. She slowly moved on her heels and moved behind Regina.

“Oh no…” came a soft, concerned voice from Emma.

“What?!” Regina groused.

“You gotta another tick,” Emma’s voice sounded just as scrunched up as her face.

“You’re making this up.” Regina came back an angry retort, and then in a frustrated tone tinged with defeat, “I used our ultra extreme bug repellent today.”

Emma couldn’t smile, her stomach felt warm hearing the word ‘our’ even if it was next to bug repellent, she was a part of something and she really liked it.

“It’s uuhhhh…kind of on your ass…well….really close to it. You’re lucky I was looking at your ass so closely…for ticks,” Emma tried to recover. Sure she had been staring hard at Regina’s ass because it was so damn perfect, except now for the really gross tick part.

Regina let out a dramatic sigh; she put her face in her hands. “Looks like another SnowArcher product we need to re-engineer.”

“These ticks really like you, you must taste good,” Emma squeezed her eyes shut, did she just verbally wonder out loud if Regina tasted good? She stood up and got in front of Regina without making eye contact. “Don’t worry, I’ll get it out.”

Before Emma could give Regina an idea on how to proceed with this tick extraction, Regina turned around and took off her underwear and bra, leaving her completely naked in front of Emma.

“Uhhh…okay…” Emma’s throat went dry. Regina was now standing in front of her in all her nude glory, and it was glorious indeed. 

“Get it out Emma,” Regina demanded. “I didn’t want anything getting in the way.”

Emma thought; well the only thing now getting in the way was her libido if she couldn’t stop staring at Regina’s perfect ass and everything else on display. After, a few painstaking minutes Emma got the tick out while actually having to cup Regina’s ass in the process. She was now sweating profusely, her heart was racing and her hands felt tingly where they had been on Regina’s butt. She stood up awkwardly, hoping Regina didn’t take a long hard look at her underwear because it might be highly inappropriate to see how soaked Emma’s underwear had gotten from getting up close and personal with Regina’s ass.

The brunette didn’t seem fazed at all; she grabbed a towel and headed to the shower. Regina tried her hardest for every once of decorum and detachment she could muster in her mind and body. Having Emma’s hands on her bare skin, on her ass even though it was with a tick removal had her squeezing her legs together so hard and thinking of the most disgusting things to not get turned on. It wasn’t working, she bit her lip several times and prayed Emma would be done soon so she could flee to the shower. Thankfully, just about as she was about to give up and give in, Emma was done. She tried for a graceful exit to the bathroom.

“You’re taking the proper precaution for avoiding chiggers right?” Emma said in a stern, yet fearful tone. “As bad as these ticks are, you really don’t want chiggers.” She couldn’t help her eyes from trailing up and down Regina’s body again, just in case it was last looks.

“I appear to be some bug magnet,” Regina positioned the towel around herself; Emma had seen enough for one night she thought while not hiding a sly grin. She thought maybe she felt like Emma was a magnet to her too, however, she wasn’t sure who was pulling or pushing.

“You’re fresh meat,” Emma glanced at her. “You said you don’t hang outdoors that much, which is a little surprising since you work for a sporting goods company.”

“Yes, and helping run a moderately successful sporting good company has me in meetings all the time, indoors.” Regina pursed her lips and stared back at Emma. “We can’t all play games at work.”

Emma gaped at Regina, how did she know they sometimes played games at her store. Was Alice spilling secrets about her?

“Just go take a 20 minute very hot shower,” Emma rolled her eyes and said in an annoyed tone.

“I’ll relish the 20 minutes of solitude,” Regina replied back.

“Don’t push it or I’ll join you in the shower,” Emma cursed her mouth. “…where I will keep…talking and…thus ruining that solitude.” She didn’t think that was a good enough save.

Now Regina couldn’t get the thought of Emma joining her in the shower out of her head as she closed the bathroom door and let the steamy water cascade over her neck and shoulders. Running her hands over Emma’s taut stomach as warm water ran over it, blonde drenched hair lathered up while soap suds ran over and down her breasts. Regina knew she was wet and not just from the shower pouring down on her, she clinched her thighs together and took a shaky deep breath. Maybe if she was quick and quiet, she could relieve some tension coiled up tightly in her body in the shower, this action was purely logistical and practical, to stay focused on the work at hand and not get swept up by biological and physiological needs. Emma already told her to take at least a 20-minute shower, so this was multi-tasking and that’s exactly what she did. When she exited the shower a half hour later she felt more relaxed after a rather rushed short release, but thankfully her muscles did feel looser and some edge was taken off. She did not want to admit that her bunk bed mate had starred in her self-indulging fantasy. She found she had trouble making eye contact with Emma at the moment since it was the idea of the blonde taking her up against the shower wall that made her come so fast and hard. 

Emma noticed that when Regina finally left the bathroom, the brunette did seem more relaxed and her cheeks looked a little flushed, had she done other things in the shower besides avoiding chigger infestation she wondered. No way, not Regina. There was no way her boss was pleasuring herself in the shower, just on the other side of that door. Although, that thought created a strong throb in between her legs. She was happy to finally get in the shower after waiting for so long. She was going to take a cold shower but then the thought of Regina masturbating in the shower was all it took for Emma’s hand to wander in between her legs and in a few minutes she was biting her lip not to moan out loud. Damn it she thought to herself, she never dreamed she would have done that with Regina on the other side of the door at a summer camp. Get a hold of yourself Swan, she swore to herself.

Before Regina went to get into bed, she raised herself on her tiptoes to peer in at Emma in her top bunk. She saw the blonde on her phone with her head propped up with a SnowArcher bunny, then another stuffed bunny tucked under each of her arms.

“Miss Swan, how did you acquire three stuffed bunnies now? Did you leave any for the actual kids?”

Emma rolled her eyes, “Yes, one of these is yours and the other one is Ruby’s.”

“Mine? How did you find mine?” Regina’s eyebrows were furrowed while looking at the stuffed bunnies.

“That smart kid Kayla said she fixed your bunny after you stabbed her in our duel,” Emma picked up the stuffed animal and waved it’s arm to Regina. “No, thanks to you. She’s made it through physical therapy and has full mobility again.” Emma continued to move the bunny’s arm around and made it wave at Regina.

Regina squinted her eyes, such nonsense. With a glint in her eyes, she quickly reached over and pulled the stuffed bunny away from Emma. She might not want the bunny, but she’ll be damned now if Emma gets it.

“Really Regina?” Emma leaned over her bunk hair spilling all around her face as she dangled her head in Regina’s bottom bunk.

“Go to sleep Miss Swan,” Regina said with a wave of her hand to indict for the blonde to vacate her view.

“Goodnight, Regina and to your stuffed bunny, I’ll call her Bunny Regina.” Emma lifted up head and laid back down on her top bunk bed, now with only two stuffed bunnies.

Suddenly, Emma felt a hard jab in her back.

“Ouch! What the hell Regina?” Emma leaned her head over and her hair dangled almost making a blonde curtain on Regina’s bottom bunk.

“Miss Swan, if I see your golden locks once again tonight, you will get a harder poke,” Regina threatened in a deep, rich low voice as she glared at Emma.

Emma felt her cheeks go warm, she once again realized she did want Regina to poke her but somewhere more specific and not with a stick or preferably not as hard as the infamous boob jab. She wondered if Regina knew how adorable and hot she looked in her old timey pajamas. She shook her head; obviously her solo time in the shower did nothing to squash her desire to keep thinking about one her boss.

Regina didn’t mean for her threat to come off vaguely sexual. Admittedly, she wouldn’t mind seeing the golden locks again, especially if they were sprawled across her pillow or her stomach as the blonde moved further down her body and in between her legs. Oh dear, as she took a deep breath, she thought the heat of the camp and close quarters were making her mind a muddled mess of unwanted need for something she normally could squash and not think about. And she had even taken the extra precaution of taking matters into her own hands tonight and if anything the need felt stronger now. She was thankful that Emma had no witty retort back to her. The blonde simply squinted her eyes and pulled her head back up.

Emma turned over her in a huff; she realized she hadn’t plugged her phone in. She didn’t want to get down and risk seeing Regina again, not knowing if the brunette’s threats were real or not; so she left the phone next to her pillow. And she realized, Regina’s tone probably was not flirty towards her but more truly menacing. Although, Regina did say that one thing about seeing her underwear and she did get to touch Regina’s butt tonight. So all in all a great day. She smiled to herself and she snuggled her two stuffed bunnies closer.

Down below, Regina could feel that Emma was falling asleep with the movements from up above finally stilled. She pulled the stuffed bunny close to her chest, yet pushed it under the covers in case Emma woke up first. Regina did not want to be seen spooning a stuffed bunny.


	8. The Kayak Video

Emma woke up slowly the next morning; she thought it was really strange; the office cabin was really quiet. Could it possibly be Regina wasn’t awake yet? It seemed unRegina like for the brunette to still be asleep, maybe all the fresh air finally got to her. She decided to slowly lower her head down to see if the brunette was indeed asleep. She nearly fell off her top bunk bed when she saw Regina still asleep and hugging onto her stuffed bunny. Oh, Emma really wanted a photo of this and not just for blackmail purposes. She then realized she hadn’t plugged in her phone last night and it was still in bed with her, she prayed there was still some battery left in it. She grabbed the phone near her pillow and saw she still had 7% left, she did a fist pump in the air. Emma then slowly lowered her head down again and started taking photos of Regina asleep with Bunny Regina.

Suddenly, Regina moved and started stretching. She raised her arms over her chest and her pajama top rode up and Emma could see her stomach. Emma stayed frozen and just watched Regina for too long because then the brunette opened her eyes and saw the blonde hanging over with her phone.

“What are you doing?” Regina hoarse raspy voice croaked out as she was still waking up.

“Nothing…just checking to see if you’re awake,” Emma said awkwardly, she swung her arm quickly with the phone.

Regina stretched again and felt something on her chest, she looked down to see the stuffed bunny. Had she woken up holding the stuffed bunny?

She had messy hair with a very confused expression on her face. “Is that your phone?” Regina asked because she thought she saw a phone in Emma’s hand a second ago before her eyes were fully open.

“What? Where?” Emma stared at Regina, the brunette’s messy bed head and raspy sleepy voice were making her stomach do flip-flops.

Emma decided to make a fast getaway, she snagged the bathroom before Regina could fully wake up. She made sure to take her phone in the bathroom with her. The two women went about getting ready for the day, both wearing the SnowArcher t-shirt and Regina choosing cargo hiking pants again while Emma opted for shorts today. They argued on the way to the dining hall over whether Emma had a photo of Regina or not.

“Don’t worry, I’m not going to post it or share it,” Emma finally broke and confessed to Regina.

“It’s an invasion of privacy, I’ll remotely wipe your phone,” Regina glared back at Emma as they entered the dining hall.

“Not a company phone, you can’t do that,” Emma smirked as went off to get some breakfast.

Alice and Robyn joined them eating breakfast, they went over the video they were going to shoot for the day. Regina listened and noticed the ever-growing togetherness of her niece and this Alice.

When Emma jumped up from the table to get another cup of coffee leaving her phone behind, Regina took this opportunity to look at the blonde’s phone. Regina looked at it curiously, wondering if the blonde had the incriminating photo, which she could delete. She pressed one of the buttons on the side and the home screen lit up, a home screen photo that was her sleeping with the stuffed bunny.

“Swan!” Regina yelled loudly in the dining hall, startling quite a few campers and adults, most noticeably making the two young women at her table jump.

Emma looked like a deer caught in high beam headlights. Alice and Robyn both held down a snicker.

“What?” Emma called back to Regina across the dining hall.

Regina picked up Emma’s phone and stormed up to her near the front where the blonde was getting coffee. “Take that photo off your home screen immediately,” Regina handed Emma’s phone to her.

“Why?” Emma picked up her phone and smiled. “It’s really cute.” The words just popped out of her mouth before she could stop them.

Regina couldn’t stop a blush flooding her cheeks, so then she barked to Emma to hopefully cover it up. “You will delete that photo immediately or so help me…” Her nostrils flared and her eyes were intensely staring into Emma’s eyes.

“You’ll what…punish me?” Emma gave Regina her full attention now; she got up in her face and stared her down. Her stomach was fluttering again invading Regina’s personal space.

Almost the whole dining hall stopped eating their breakfast to watch this mini-showdown. Regina noticed that they were making a scene, the last thing she needed was another rumor of an office hookup. She grabbed Emma’s arm, the arm not holding the coffee, and pulled her outside so they could talk privately. Having Emma verbally challenge her was doing something funky to her insides; her hand felt tingly where it was grabbed onto Emma’s arm.

When they were outside, off to the side building for privacy. “Do you want people to think we’re dating?” Regina glared at Emma, then added softly. “I think that’s what people will think.”

“We already live together so it’s not a long shot,” Emma smirked at Regina as she took a sip of her coffee.

“Temporary living together, forced co-habitation,” Regina snapped back to Emma.

“Everybody online wants us to date,” Emma added, she loved seeing Regina look even more flummoxed.

Regina looked down at the ground. “Were there more comments insinuating a relationship between us from the last video?” She glanced up quickly meeting Emma’s eyes.

“Yes, of course there were. You pulled me into a lake,” Emma refrained from telling Regina that the majority of the comments wanted Regina to pull off both of their clothes after falling into the lake. “We had wet clothes on.”

Regina felt a heat wave traveling throughout her whole body hearing the word ‘wet’; she scolded herself for being a hormonal mess.

“How are…wet clothes desirable?”

“Look at Colin Firth, I don’t think he’s ever lived down taking a dip in a lake,” Emma smiled cheekily to Regina.

Regina pursed her lips and squinted her eyes at Emma; she made a good point.

“Snow, said you already agreed to be in the kayak video, thank you.” Emma started walking away from Regina back into the dining hall. “We’ll shoot that after lunch, then the kids will have their kayak races.”

Regina huffed, she did not remember agreeing to Snow about appearing in yet another idiotic online video. She did not want to become a co-host on these videos or some kind of comedic villain foil.

*****

After lunch, it was time for the kayak product testing. Emma, Alice and Robyn had spent all morning getting the gear ready. The SnowArcher kayak had to be inflated and then they scouted the best part of the lake to test it. They decided on a more secluded part of the last dock - the kids would stand on shore and Alice and Robyn would be in a traditional camp boat filming the video.

Regina had spent the morning going over reports and other company business with Snow in the office cabin while toddler Neal crawled around in his newly constructed play pen. When the time came, Regina very reluctantly excused herself to go down to the designated lake area for the kayak video. Snow smiled after her and yelled ‘Good Luck’ which just earned her a glare from Regina.

Emma smiled when she saw Regina walking towards their set up on the shore. The brunette had changed into a SnowArcher tank top and shorts - they were almost matching. Emma couldn’t help the way her eyes drifted up and down all the exposed skin. She hoped she averted them quickly enough before Regina caught her leering.

As Regina approached Emma, she thought she could see the blonde’s eyes moving up and down her body. She thought maybe Emma was just making sure her outfit was camera appropriate. She didn’t really want to think or in some bizarre way hope that Emma was attracted to her as well - despite probably cupping her ass for longer than was needed the night before. Emma worked for her, it would be way too messy to date or even just hook up with her. And then there was Henry. What if she and Emma did briefly date and then broke up? Her son would be very upset if he didn’t see the blonde any more. She had to push those thoughts aside and concentrate on the task at hand - being in a two-seater kayak with the woman she was beginning to begrudgingly acknowledge that she was attracted to.

The kids were gathered at one point on the docks as, Emma explained about the SnowArcher kayak. Regina stood beside her, listening along with the kids while Alice shot the footage with the help of Robyn.

“These are the new SnowArcher tandem inflatable kayaks,” Emma pointed to the kayak floating in the lake water a few feet away from the shore. She was holding tightly to a rope that was tied to it.

“What does tandem mean?” one kid asked timidly..

“It means like partners, that’s why Regina has been gracious enough to help me demonstrate this type of kayak,” Emma said, nudging Regina with her elbow and missing the immediate scowl aimed at her. .

“So you two are partners?” a young girl asked next.

“Yeah, sort of.” Emma replied, and damn it there was that fluttering in her stomach again.

“No, she means no. Tandem means one behind each other, for example as in a line,” Regina clarified. “Emma is in line behind me, sitting behind me…that’s all tandem means.”

“Not really, it’s like partner. Like Bert and Ernie,” Emma explained. Regina rolled her eyes.

“Like Spongebob and Patrick!” one kid yelled.

“Exactly,” Emma pointed excitedly to the kid, earning her a toothy grin.

“No,” Regina scowled at Emma and shook her for emphasis. She pinched the bridge of her nose in frustration.

“Batman and Robin!” another kid answered.

“Good one!” Emma shouted back.

“Can we get this over with?” Regina grumbled, rolling her eyes at Emma. She couldn’t believe she had agreed to be on camera and in another insipid online video.

Emma smiled cheekily at her. “Yes, your highness.”

They both moved closer to the edge of the water as Emma pulled the kayak up with the rope and placed the front part on the sandy shore near them. After they both carefully yet awkwardly got into the tandem kayak, she pushed them off with the oar a little further out into the lake. Alice and Robyn had set off in a regular boat at the same time few feet from them to shoot the whole thing.

While Emma went on to explain some other features of the tandem kayak, Regina lifted the oars but didn’t actually row so that they could stay close to shore. Emma failed miserably trying not to gawk at Regina’s toned arms. She was so distracted that she accidentally made a big splash when her foot got caught between the kayak and water, sending the vessel lurching forward.

“Miss Swan!” Regina hissed. “I swear if my pinky finger so much as touches this lake water again, I’ll have your head.”

“The lake looks really inviting,” Emma teased, staring at the back of Regina’s head.

She deliberately reached over the edge and innocently flicked some water at Regina. It was a big splash, way more than Emma intended, getting the front of Regina’s tank top soaked. Regina inhaled sharply as the water hit her and she turned to gift Emma with a seething look.

The kids on shore giggled watching the two women bicker in the kayak. Even Henry couldn’t hold down some chuckles of his own listening his mom protest about the lake water.

“Miss Swan stop that immediately or so help me!” Regina scolded Emma folding her arms in a way that meant she was being serious.

“Why don’t you go give the lake a big hug?” Emma teased. “It’s what? Day three of camp and you haven’t been in the water yet.”

The kids on shore start giggling even more as Emma grasped the edges of the kayak and started rocking the thing back and forth.

“You are completely wrong, I was in the lake on the first day...the day you tricked and shoved me.” Regina warned in her harshest tone, a low guttural tenor meant to instill fear in the blonde. “So don’t you dare…. Or so help me Miss Swan I will destroy you.” She tacked on for good measure.

Emma paused her goofy antics as shivers raced down her spine hearing Regina’s low threatening voice. She felt a wave of intense arousal flare through her body, making her clench her thighs in response. That low, rich voice could definitely knock her up if the circumstances allowed, she mused. When she finally realized that everyone’s eyes were still on her, waiting for her to continue, Emma cleared her throat loudly, reigning in her thoughts to get back on track with talking about the kayak.

“Uhhhh…that’s the great thing about the SnowArcher tandem kayak, it can withstand strong currents, see there’s no chance we are dumping over into the lake,” Emma smiled at the kids on the docks but it turned significantly sly when she refocused on the back of Regina’s head. “Unless, you would like to see how quickly we can capsize and then turn back up again?”

“No, I do not!” Regina immediately protested, tilting her head to give Emma a stern look. “I’ve read the actual reports from a qualified, certified, standardized testing company.”

Emma snorted. Of course she did. But Regina’s glare didn’t stop her; she wobbled the kayak back and forth some more splashing even more water on the both of them.

“Emma!” Regina shrieked. Her brows were knitted tightly together and that forehead vein was almost visible.

“No, c’mon. I think you will love it. And we gotta test it to see if it works, right kids?” Emma yelled to their audience on shore. Cheers immediately erupted and she even got a few thumbs up. “In case someone is water rafting and gets turned over, this shows them how quickly the SnowArcher kayak turns back up right.”

Emma turned to look at Alice and Robyn who gave her an enthusiastic nod.

“No, wait…Emma.” Regina started holding tighter onto the kayak for dear life.

“Here we go!” Emma announced, barreling right over Regina’s protests as she got a firm hold on the kayak.

“Emma I think there are sna…” before Regina could finish her sentence Emma had already rocked the entire kayak and toppled them over, plunging them both into the lake and under water.

A few seconds went by without the kayak turning upright. The kids looked on in surprise, as did Alice and Robyn.

“Boss!”

“Aunt Gina!”

A few seconds later, Emma and Regina’s heads popped up on the surface of the lake while the kayak stayed downside, not turning right side up. Both women were a little breathless and one extremely angry with the other. Regina was just about ready to start yelling at Emma when one of the kids called out to them.

“There’s a snake!”

Emma’s eyes went comically wide; Regina thought they were going to bulge out. Before she knew what happened, Emma jumped at her, grabbing onto her and mounting her back.

“Miss Swan!” Regina spluttered. “Get off of me!” She shrieked. She couldn’t believe that Emma had her arms around her neck and her legs wrapped around her waist. It was like a koala latching onto a tree, Emma was clutching onto her for dear life.

Emma didn’t budge. She stayed firmly affixed to Regina’s back tightly wrapped around the brunette. Nothing seemed to scare Regina, so she was going to hold on to her until she was saved from the snake. She felt safer latched to Regina. She could feel Regina wasn’t happy with her actions at all. She flailed beneath Emma, desperately seeking to throw her off but failing miserably. Emma was glued to her.

“Emma, seriously?” Regina’s remark elicited more laughs from the shore and even a few from Alice and Robyn. She shifted a little, freezing in place when Emma’s bare arms and legs rubbed teasingly against her slick skin. It was making it harder for Regina to think as her head and libido spun out of control.

Thankfully, they weren’t too far out and Regina’s feet could touch the bottom of the lake. She didn’t know what to do with her hands, they lay a little stiffly in front of her, bumping occasionally with Emma’s arms.

“I really hate snakes.” Emma’s voice shook as she whispered in a breathy rasp against Regina’s ear. “Take me back to the shore… please, Regina?” She asked meekly, pointing back to the shore briefly before wrapping her arms even tighter around Regina’s neck and burying her face there too.

Regina gritted her teeth, tingles racing up and down her spine making her immediately decide that she could no longer not touch Emma. She huffed, grumbling for good measure as she made Emma aware of just how much of a pain she was being. She lowered her hands and gripped onto the blonde’s thighs, chastising herself when her hands slid lower than intended as she trudged back to the shore.

Emma barely held in a gasp with Regina’s hands on her thighs.

“You aren’t afraid of snakes?” Emma leaned over to whisper once again in Regina’s ear, dripping water in both of their faces. Emma’s lips ghosting over Regina’s ear and neck but never touching. It was maddening.

“Snakes know better than to come close to me.”

Emma didn’t care how tightly she wound around Regina’s body or how silly she looked. She really hated snakes. But having her arms and legs entangled with Regina’s evoked an intense feeling between her thighs and she had to force herself to keep her eyes open and not give in to it. She wanted to move to Regina’s front so she could lean into her, press her face properly against her neck or press a kiss to her soft lips. Emma’s face warmed as her arms tightened a little more around Regina. She shook her head vehemently, no kissing she told her brain and especially her lower region.

Regina continued walking slowly towards the shore, her hiking boots trailing across the bottom of the lake, oblivious to Emma’s conflicting thoughts. She had her own internal hormonal struggle to deal with.

Alice was of course filming everything with a toothy grin on her face exchanging knowing looks with Robyn.

As Regina trudged further out of the water, it was harder to keep walking steady with Emma attached to her back. She continued to walk anyway as it didn’t appear that Emma was detaching from her body any time soon. Regina quickly found she didn’t really mind, it was kind of nice carrying the scared blonde. And even nicer having Emma’s arms still wrapped around her neck, her breasts pressed into her back and her thighs against Regina’s hands.

There was a chorus of laughter in the background from the children as Regina finally made it back on shore with Emma. She stood frozen for a few seconds before Emma slowly loosened her grip and slid off of her and back onto her own feet.

“Thanks…” Emma said shyly, her chest tightened and her cheeks went red.

Regina turned around to face her, the hint of a smile on her face immediately comforting Emma. “You have the same weakness as Indiana Jones.”

Emma didn’t know how to reply to that. Instead, her eyes helplessly drifted down Regina’s body realizing that her clothes now distractingly clung to every curve. Her shirt had now become virtually transparent, revealing the cups and intricate design of the black bra that lay below. Emma’s throat went dry, coherent words leaving her. She immediately turned to the camera as Robyn approached. “Okay...well, the SnowArcher tandem kayak might need some readjustments. Thanks for watching and...uh...take care.” She then prayed Alice would stop recording.

Once Alice turned off the camera, Regina linked her arm around Emma’s arm and spun her around to face her. “Are you deliberately setting out to make our products look defective?”

They were close, too close. Emma immediately stumbled back a few steps, focusing on everywhere but Regina as she replied.

“No, of course not. We were just surprised by the rain poncho, some of the food and now this.” Emma shook out her hair and wrung out the bottom of her shirt.

“I find that hard to believe.” Regina scoffed. “It’s easier to believe that you are trying to sabotage us.”

“Hey, I’ve got a lot riding on this too you know, I’m not stupid.” Emma grumbled, finally finding the courage to look Regina in the eye. She muttered softly, “My store is like my family.” 

They stood face to face, trapped within an intense battle of wills as they stared at each other. Regina’s eyes became less intense with Emma’s last words. 

“The comments from yesterday were all positive, despite both products failing,” Alice spoke up, “People really liked that the videos didn’t hide any defects.”

That was actually...good news. Whatever Emma was doing, no matter how unconventional her methods, it seemed effective. But Regina wasn’t going to admit that to her smug face. Regina pursed her lips and continued to stare at Emma. “I have dibs on the shower.”

Emma watched Regina walk away, teeth sinking into her lower lip as she observed how the brunette’s shorts clung to her thighs. It was rude. How the hell did she always look so damn sexy?

“Mom did great,” Henry chirped, startling Emma. “I’m afraid of snakes too.”

“Your mom did do great, she saved me,” Emma smiled down at Henry; really thankful the kid derailed her R-rated thoughts about his mother. However, she was also mad at his mom, her brain battled being turned on and angry at Regina at the same time. How could she think that she would deliberately sabotage products? That stung, she needed to clear the air with her boss on that one. 

Henry laughed, agreeing with her. A second later, he had his hand linked with hers, tugging her along and surprising Emma once again with how affectionate he was towards her. “Let’s go eat, I heard that they’re gonna let us have desert early.”

“You’re lying.” Emma laughed, reaching down to ruffle his hair. “Knowing the cook doesn’t mean you should take advantage, kid.”

“But all I have to do is smile.” Henry grinned. “Can’t let my charm go to waste.”

“Touche.”

*****

The rest of evening went by fairly quietly, the two women hadn’t seen each other for a few hours. Regina wasn’t quite sure where Emma had been but since she didn’t see Alice and Robyn either, she figured the three women were editing the video so they could post it online immediately. She was surprised though when she saw Alice and Robyn at dinner but no Emma. They had said that Emma had opted for a run instead of dinner. Regina thought that seemed odd, she didn’t know the blonde to miss meals, especially ones that involved high calorie intakes as Granny’s cooking.

Regina was surprised to see Emma back in the office cabin; she hadn’t seen the blonde getting a s’more either by the campfire after dinner. She had stayed to have one small s’more with Henry and hear about his day that didn’t involve seeing his mother capsized on a kayak and coaxing a scared blonde off her back. She snuck out after the stories started, curious to see if Emma was back at their office cabin. Emma looked showered, she was slouching on the couch in a loose fitting t-shirt and sweat pants and engrossed in watching something on her laptop.

“Hey…” Emma was wearing glasses and totally absorbed in whatever was displayed on her laptop.

Regina tilted her head, she was going to have to get used to ‘hey’ as an official greeting. She hadn’t noticed Emma wearing glasses before, they looked good on the blonde; well, there wasn’t much Emma could make look bad except for maybe healthy eating decisions. Regina noticed Emma looked completely comfortable on the couch, it almost felt like a Déjà-vu moment, arriving home and greeting the blonde after a workday. She felt her stomach flutter watching the blonde on the couch. Regina caught herself wanting to sit next to Emma and snuggle into her. Maybe the lake water was eating into her brain, she wondered.

“Good evening, no s’mores tonight?” Regina asked as she took off her boots and left them by the door. She was pleased Emma had followed that rule.

“No, I needed some downtime.” Emma didn’t look up from her screen. She had gone on a run to try and clear her head around Regina.

“Oh...well, you missed a classic Granny meal,” Regina offered cautiously, “...and I even had a s’more tonight.”

Emma looked up at Regina with a small smile. Was Regina trying to make amends with her after her statement or was she just being nice because of a sugar rush? She decided she didn’t care; she liked this small olive branch so she took it. “I’m watching a movie, wanna join me?

“Depends on what you’re watching. I’m not watching a horror film, not my favorite genre. Or an animated film, I’ve seen everything from the last decade,” Regina sat down next to Emma on the couch.

Their arms brushed against each other, both pretended to ignore the small spark.

“Great, porn it is,” Emma looked down and typed away on her laptop.

Regina glared at Emma, who looked up briefly with a sly grin.

“I mean erotic thriller,” Emma moved her finger around the touchpad on her laptop. “I know you’ve seen this one before because you kind of quoted it to me,” Emma turned her head and smirked at Regina, she wanted to add ‘on our first date’ to joke with the brunette.

Regina looked at Emma’s laptop screen and a smile spread across her face. “Yes, it’s one of my favorites, Nora Ephron was a great writer.”

“Want me to pause it so you can get ready for bed?”

Regina studied Emma’s face; she stared in her eyes for too long before she shook her head in a yes gesture. The glasses somehow made the blonde even more adorable. Adorable? She shook her head again; she was blaming the high sugar intake from that s’more for that crazy thought. And the lake water, who knows what kind of parasites lurked in that lake.

“Okay, I’ll be out in a few minutes.” Regina stood up, gathered her pajamas from her make shift dresser and headed towards the bathroom.

Once on the other side of the closed bathroom door, Regina let out a deep breath. Emma Swan could make her feel a whirlwind of emotions in a matter of seconds. She felt extremely comfortable, then awkward the following second. She got dressed quickly, washed her face and went back out to join Emma on the couch. She was wearing her glasses too.

When Regina opened the bathroom door, Emma sat up a little on the couch and made space for her. Emma didn’t think it was appropriate to tell her boss that she could just sit in her lap if she wanted.

“Do you and Henry watch a lot of movies together?”

“Yes, it’s a nice tradition we have.” Regina had a nice, warm smile on her face. “Actually, we watched your videos one movie night; I think that night was to blame for Henry becoming a Swan fan.” Regina put on a grimace, but it was faked.

“Swan fan huh? And why were you watching my videos if you detest them so much?” Emma asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Research purposes. Seeing if I could sue you,” Regina stared back at Emma.

They watched the movie in sometimes comfortable silence, a little quoting back and forth to each other and many stolen glances when the other woman wasn’t looking. Both women were pretty sleepy by the time the credits rolled. As they shuffled to their bunk bed, Emma stopped to look at Regina with a serious expression.

“Thanks for saving me today from the snake.”

“Well…thanks for saving me from the ticks,” Regina replied back as she crawled into bed and watched Emma climb up the ladder and disappear.

An upside down stuffed bunny head was soon hanging down in her view, “Night, Regina.” Before, Emma could pull the bunny back up it was snatched away by Regina.

“I know you have two more bunnies up there, good night…Emma.”


	9. Queen and Knight for a Day

Day four of camp was progressing along nicely; everyone was getting into their camp schedules and learning the ropes. The morning started off with a horse riding class with both Emma and Regina’s small groups combined together.

Emma and Regina’s small groups along with their counselors Elsa and Killian all stood around listening to instructions on being around the horses by the stable manager. Except Killian kept interrupting with wrong information that was making Regina's blood boil.

When it came time for everyone to mount a horse for their short ride, they were one horse short, because normally there were only two counselors and with the addition of Regina and Emma the numbers were off.

“No worries love, you can ride with me,” Killian leered at Emma and walked around her to stand very close to her. He put one hand on her arm and gave her a nudge to pull herself up on the horse.

Regina watched this greasy punk standing way too close to Emma and it made her feel like her blood was boiling. He was unprofessional with too much chest hair and eyeliner; she did not like seeing this heavy metal cover band front man wannabe hitting on Emma.

Emma furrowed her brows and stared at the horse then turned to see a lecherous grin on Killian’s face. She felt uneasy, she did want to go along with everybody but not at the cost of being pressed up this guy’s hairy, sweaty chest. Killian’s tank top was so loose he might as well gone shirtless.

“I’m going to pass, sit this one out,” Emma moved back away from the group and horses.

Regina didn’t like seeing Emma walk away and without really thinking found herself stopping the blonde.

“Nonsense, you can take my horse. I’ll ride with Henry,” Regina said, missing the shocked and embarrassed looks on her son’s face.

Emma glanced over at Henry and held down a chuckle. She walked over to Regina as discreetly as she could and stood close to her side so she could casually lean into her ear. She could smell Regina’s perfume and it was like smelling some intoxicating cookie dough that she wanted to gobble up.

“Don’t make the kid ride with his mom in front of his new friends,” Emma whispered in Regina’s ear.

Regina was distracted with Emma leaning into her and whispering in her ear, she could feel the blonde’s breath on her neck. She hadn’t thought this over, Emma had a point, she knew Henry was growing up and she had to start letting go. And yes, having him ride with his mom was one of those things she sadly realized.

“On second thought, Miss Swan you are far too unqualified to ride on your own or with an inexperienced rider like Killian, you’ll accompany me.”

Emma had wide eyes, okay she wasn’t expecting that resolution, she didn’t want to ride with Killian but she kind of didn’t want to ride with Regina either. In the Killian scenario he was the pervy one, in the Regina scenario she might be the pervy one, enjoying any closeness that might ensue.

“This is only acceptable for short periods of time, it can put too much stress and weight on the horse,” Regina said this loudly as she looked around to all the kids and glared at Killian.

Regina got on the horse first, she lifted herself onto the saddle with such a fluid movement that it made Emma slightly jealous. She pushed herself as far as she could go to make room for Emma.

"Well? What are you waiting for?" Regina asked and Emma swallowed thickly, clamoring onto the animal far less gracefully than she was going for.

There was a quite a bit of fumbling getting situated on the horse with Emma sitting in front of Regina. Unknowingly Emma swatted her ponytail in Regina’s face a few times, like a happy dog’s tail. Emma was pressed in tightly and snuggly against Regina’s chest in the saddle, back to boobs, and her cheeks had gone a fierce shade of red as her hands hesitantly found Regina’s thighs then she removed and put them on the saddle horn.

"Honestly, Miss Swan." Regina huffed; she reached around Emma completely encasing her in her arms, her head almost resting on Emma’s shoulders. This action brought them even closer together. "I'm not going to be responsible for you or I falling off and getting a concussion." She grunted in Emma’s ear.

Even though it was Regina’s idea, sitting Emma in front of her so she teach her how to guide the horse, having the blonde nearly in her lap was completely distracting her. She literally had Emma in her arms now and they seem to fit perfectly together. If the blonde for some reason turned her head, Regina wondered if she would be able to stop herself from kissing her. Her stomach felt like a swarm of butterflies had been set loose in it. This was the second day in a row that Emma had been latched onto Regina in some physical way and she found each time more intoxicating than the next.

Emma felt tingly all over having Regina’s arms wrapped around her so tightly, having her breasts pressed against her back. It was a delicious torture to not lean in and turn her face against Regina’s neck.

They both were so lost in the sensations of having each other so physically close; they totally missed all the things along the trail they were supposed to be looking at. And Regina kept missing teaching points to tell Emma on how to guide the horse properly.

*****

The rest of the day went off went well, Regina had her business class again and Emma’s group had a softball game. There was dinner, then s’mores and story time again. Emma found herself longing to have another movie night with Regina instead of listening to campfire stories, which she did feel a bit sheepish missing since how often do you get to hear stories around an actual campfire; yet, she kind of yearned to be alone with Regina. 

Regina sat on a bench nursing a hot chocolate when Emma walked up slowly and sat down next to her.

“Do you wanna…I don’t know…maybe go back to the office cabin and watch another movie?”

Regina stared at Emma, momentarily getting lost in her green eyes. She realized despite never having really had the opportunity to hang around a scenic campfire and listen to stories, going to her shared cabin with Emma alone was all she wanted at this moment.

“Yes, I’ve heard one too many man with a hook hand terrorizes young couple in love stories. Plus, the bugs are eating me alive.” Regina stood and discreetly waved to Henry before leaving.

Emma did not want to think that she wanted to eat Regina too. Nope.

Back at their office cabin, all ready for bed, the two women settled themselves on the couch again. Regina had poured two glasses of wine for them. Emma had looked at the brunette with raised eyebrows. Regina explained there was no way she was going to the woods for two weeks with tons of kids without having a few glasses of wine at night to relax and unwind. Regina picked the movie this time, which is how they ended up watching a documentary. After the movie ended they both lingered on the couch, not wanting the evening to end.

“What happened to Henry’s father?” Emma asked cautiously. She desperately wanted to know about the man who created such a great kid and who swept Regina off her feet.

“Daniel was always the strongest and kindest person I knew, we met in college. We had some great adventures together, we had Henry and then he got sick…” Regina looked down at her hands, “…cancer was the one thing he wasn’t strong enough to beat.” Regina had sadness in her eyes when she slowly looked back up into Emma’s eyes.

Emma didn’t know what to say. How do you remark which was clearly the love of Regina’s life. Emma admired Henry’s father, yet was also jealous of a dead man.

Regina took a deep breath; she felt it was her turn to get to ask Emma something she didn’t talk a lot about. She knew from her own investigation and Snow that Emma had grown up in the foster system, but she never heard if Emma knew anything about her parents.

“What happened to your parents?” Regina asked softly as she stared at Emma.

This time it was Emma’s turn to take a deep breath. “I don’t know, there was literally no information given and when they found me on the side of the road, there was nothing but a homemade baby blanket but nothing traceable on it.”

Regina didn’t know how to respond, she couldn’t imagine leaving a child and not a baby that she imagined was as beautiful as Emma had to be. It made her heart ache thinking of young Emma, and it made her so impressed looking at this smart, strong woman before her.

“Daniel would have liked you, in some ways…you remind me of him,” the words slipped from Regina’s mouth without her over analyzing it, she blamed the wine and comfortableness she felt with Emma. She didn’t know how Emma was going to take that compliment.

Emma looked taken aback, then her face softened immediately and she blushed. “He sounds like a great man.”

“He was…” Regina’s eyes go watery.

Emma saw Regina get sad again, so she tried to lighten the mood. “So he wore a lot of red leather jackets too?”

Regina couldn’t hold back a cackle at the mental image of Daniel wearing a hideous red leather jacket. “Never, he had excellent taste in everything.”

“He had an fabulous mane of blonde hair?”

“No, he had a terrible, corny sense of humor,” Regina said and then withheld that Daniel could always make her laugh and smile, which had been happening a lot with Emma.

Eventually, they called it a night and separated to their solo bunk beds. Emma hugged onto her two stuffed bunnies tight, wishing the plush toys were Regina. Down on the lower bunk bed, Regina found herself once again snuggling her stuffed bunny and thought she wouldn’t mind if it was Emma.

*****

Regina and Emma were getting into a rhythm cohabitation on their fifth morning together. Emma got to sleep in while Regina used the bathroom first. Then while Emma used the bathroom, Regina answered emails and got work done until her roommate was ready to head to the dining hall for breakfast. They didn’t really realize they had showed up to breakfast every day together so far.

“You don’t have any idea what this mystery day is going to be?” Emma leaned in to ask Regina during breakfast.

Regina pursed her lips. “No. Snow is being stubborn and won’t tell me. I’m supposed to be her second in command and she’s withholding.”

“Do you think maybe it’s just a goof off day?” Emma added with a big grin. 

Regina narrowed her eyes at Emma, conveying what she thought of that scenario.

“Right, probably not. Well, before we leave camp, we gotta get you out there on the lake to jump on the blob.”

“Not happening, unlike you, I’m not interested in breaking any bones,” Regina replied, casting her gaze around the room and then back to her food.

Emma looked over at Regina’s breakfast - a damn egg white kale omelet with a side of grapefruit. Emma grimaced, savagely biting into her pancakes and savoring the taste to wash out the image of Regina’s healthy food.

“Didn’t you see how much fun it was in Pitch Perfect 2?”

Regina’s eyebrows rose. Emma could practically feel the judgment wafting off of her. “Do I look like I saw that film?”

“I know what movie I’m making you watch tonight.” Emma hummed, wiggling her eyebrows obnoxiously. Regina sighed liked she didn’t know why she even put up with Emma’s antics, yet hiding a smirk. 

The truth was, Regina had hoped there would be more movie nights with Emma. Sitting close to the blonde and getting to know her better, was turning out to be her favorite part of the whole camp outing. 

After breakfast, everyone gathered around the front steps to listen to Granny and Snow announce the big surprise for the day. The surprise activity was apparently going to take up all day and night for the entire camp.

“Every year during the fall, Granny’s summer camp is transformed into a Renaissance Faire…” Snow started explaining the day’s activities on the mystery day with a huge grin Regina thought looked absolutely creepy. She was already dreading where the announcement was going. “And today, we are going to pretend it’s the Renaissance!”

“Good morrow to all!” Granny added excitedly.

Emma looked on confused. She glanced over to Regina who had the deepest scowl on her face.

Regina looked at Snow and Granny as if they had truly lost their minds. She then looked at Emma who looked completely bewildered and raised her eyebrows at Regina.

“Are we going to pretend we have the bubonic plague as well?” Regina crossed her arms against her chest.

Emma snickered at the remark, but Snow and Granny weren’t as amused.

All the kids seemed excited to trade their regular clothes in for old timey clothes as they called them and to wander around the camp aimlessly learning about the 18th century. There was a full day of activities planning from horse races, to a ball and later on the evening the usual story time.

Emma inwardly groaned as she was summoned to go get a costume to wear for the day. Although, she did perk up when she noticed there was one more knight costume left next to a princess one.

“Cool, I’m going to be a knight!” Emma grinned enthusiastically, holding up the costume labeled ‘knight.’

“You don’t want to be a princess?” Snow asked a little disappointed.

“Not really, look at how cool the knight costumes are,” Emma held up the heavy armor and big sword, swishing it in the air animatedly.

Regina was summoned next and she proceeded to look over the costumes with a deep scowl on her face.

“Regina, we saved one costume for you,” Snow announced grandly, pulling out a very large hanging garment bag.

“Snow, I’m not wearing a costume,” Regina grumbled petulantly, crossing her arms against her chest.

“Just look at it first,” Snow pleaded and with a heavy sigh, Regina complied.

It was a massive, extremely elaborate costume that could be fit for only one person, a Queen.

“You want me to be the Queen?” Regina asked incredulously, studying her friend and boss’s face. “Why aren’t you the Queen?”

“Because I would rather be a bandit,” Snow said cheekily, eyes dancing with mischief. “David is going to be a knight that captures me. Or I surrender to him, we haven’t worked out the details.” Snow was blushing, lost in her thoughts.

Regina shook her head.

“Can you look after Neal tonight?” Snow asked with hopeful eyes aimed at Regina.

Regina frowned. Snow was starting to take shameless advantage of their beautiful co-existence.

“Please, it’s been awhile since Neal was born and David and I just haven’t done...you know...in so long...I mean it’s been ages…” Snow continued on in her long-winded rant, sharing way too much personal information.

“Fine.” Regina grumbled. “Neal can sleep over at the office cabin. I’m sure Emma won’t mind,” She sighed regretfully, looking mildly grossed out. “But Snow, I am not wearing this.”

A few minutes later, Regina was in the dressing room with Snow pulling on her corset. She immediately sucked in a breath as the harsh corset jabbed into her ribs and Snow tutted and slapped her hands away when Regina tried to adjust it.

When they finally had everything in place, Snow took a step back and looked at Regina. "You look absolutely stunning, Regina. You were born to be a Queen.”

"I feel like I'm wearing something from the intro to a bad pornography."

Regina’s eyes flickered to the mirror, observing at her reflection. She did look regal - but the costume looked like was pulled right out of a ridiculous fantasy television show. She wondered what Emma would think of it and subsequently what Emma looked like. She assumed that the woman would go for the usual poofy princess dress.

“No, you look like a good Queen ruling fairly over all her kingdoms. And who knows, maybe you will meet a prince or princess at the dance.” Snow smiled, lost in whatever fantasy world that brought that dopey look to her face.

Regina just shook her head and pursed her lips, staring at her silly friend. It was a pretty imposing costume and she didn’t want to be in another video. Yet it would seem such a waste to not wear it. Regina hummed thoughtfully as she looked at herself in the mirror. The corset that came with the costume was decidedly not her biggest fan. The purple bejeweled dress wasn't too bad either. It clung tightly to her upper body, flaring out in intricate purple lace, but she did have to admit that the constricting corset did wonders for her chest.

That’s the first thing Emma saw when she caught sight of Regina, the Queen, across the campgrounds. She had been talking to Alice and Robyn who both decided to be wenches when they all noticed the Queen waltzing regally across the grounds headed for her throne, which was stationed in the middle of the area to oversee everything. Emma had been holding her sword and mug of ale, which was actually soda and when she saw Regina both things slipped from her hands and clattered to the floor drawing more attention to her than she was aware of. She was only aware of Regina’s wicked smile aimed directly at her, causing her to lose the rest of her words.

The Renaissance day had gone by fairly quickly with all the ye olde activities to get through and one quick video product testing in which knives and water bottles might best be used by a knight. Emma had help with the video, as other knights including David, Leroy, Killian and unfortunately Rob were also a part of. The five of them threw knives and the Queen was surprised at Sir Swan’s dexterity and accuracy.

From her throne, the Queen presided over the testing and gave out witty remarks, mostly snide comments, throughout the video. She watched Emma closely, impressed with how the woman could move around so agilely in the heavy armor. Whether her toned arms were throwing knives or drinking from various water bottles to find the perfect one fit for a Queen, the Queen herself was mesmerized. Regina found she had to focus on something else when Snow gave her a wink and an over zealous nod to Emma. She was afraid what this might mean coming from Snow so she forced herself not to openly stare at Sir Swan as much as the other participating knights.

She failed miserably.

Emma would catch herself glancing too often at the Queen up on her throne. But then she thought so what? Everyone was watching the Queen. Regina was a sight to behold in the extravagant outrageous costume. And her hair and make-up looked completely regal as well. Not to mention, her cleavage looked to be about three sizes bigger due to a corset. Emma wondered if Snow helped her squeeze into the tight undergarment. She really hoped she could be the one to help Regina squeeze out of it, in a friendly co-worker platonic way of course.

Snow and Granny kept the day moving along with all kinds of speeches and activities for the kids and soon the day gave way to the evening ball. The ball wasn’t as bad as Emma thought it was going to be, mostly because it was only allotted a short amount of time after dinner and before story time and ye s’mores for the night.

Regina sat on her makeshift throne as kids ran and danced around the large outdoor patio area. There were twinkling fairy lights hung from the nearby buildings and trees giving a warmth to the celebratory atmosphere. She wondered where Emma was, she hadn't spotted Sir Swan for two hours, not that she was counting. If she had to dance, she wouldn’t mind her partner being Emma, she thought after all they already went through tick extraction together. 

“The Queen needs to grace the dance floor at least once Regina,” Snow said pointedly, giving a cheery fake smile to their Queen for the day who was being simply impossible.

“Snow, you’re lucky I even wore this damn thing for an entire day, can I go now?”

Regina did not beg, yet the corset was getting uncomfortable to the point where she longed to be in her pajamas and perhaps on a certain couch with a certain blonde. However, she hadn’t seen Emma for the majority of the ball. She was reluctant that her inability to keep track of the blonde knight had caused her mood to spiral.

“Just one dance?” Snow pleaded.

“Snow.” Regina raised an eyebrow, watching the woman through narrowed eyes. Snow pouted and Regina got the vague impression that she was about to pounce and wrap her in an impossible hug to get her to agree. “Fine.” Regina sighed heavily. “But not Rob.”

“What about Leroy?”

“Has this good Queen already had her redemption arc or am I allowed to rip his heart out?”

“Regina!” Snow gaped.

“What?” Regina huffed. “You’re gonna saddle me with him?”

“Be nice.” Snow warned but all Regina could think of was how oddly matched they’d be. She grimaced just thinking about subjecting herself to the laughter of pre-teens and camp counselors, specifically a blonde pain in the neck.

“Fine. You’ve got two minutes actually you know what? You have thirty seconds before I leave.” Regina gave out another warning.

Snow rolled her eyes and summoned Leroy, sending him over to Regina immediately. Leroy shuffled over in his knight costume, saddling up to Regina’s throne as his eyes greedily swept over her costume. Regina wanted to light him on fire where he stood.

“Good Evening Queen, thou dost takest my breath away,” Leroy spoke with a sly lecherous grin on his face.

Regina glared at Snow. “You’ll pay for this bandit,” she whispered through gritted teeth.

Snow snorted, eyes alight with amusement. “Please, not tonight good Queen.” She begged with hopeful eyes.

Regina rolled her eyes as she let Leroy led her to the dance floor. She loomed over him, awkwardly placing her hands on his shoulders as his landed a little lower than her waist. The glare she sent his way could curdle milk and the uncultured man was lucky that before she could knock him down a few pegs, a certain blonde knight stepped in between them.

“Regina…” Emma said in a breathless whisper, hand absentmindedly moving backwards to shove Leroy away as she gave an improvised bow.

Regina smiled despite herself, reigning in her excitement to see Emma when she raised her head. “That’s a bit informal wouldn’t you say, show some respect. It’s your majesty,” she said in her most imposing regal voice, subtly puffing out her already expanded cleavage.

Emma’s eyes immediately took the bait, drifting down to Regina’s chest and her face turned a delicious shade of red as she addressed Regina. “Queen, your majesty…” Emma said, brows furrowed as she tried to formulate a proper way to speak in ye olde talk. “…may I asketh for your hand in a waltz aroundeth the dance floor?” She asked with her hand outstretched. “Excuseth us, Sir Leroy.” She added as an afterthought.

Regina stared at Emma, a sly smile curling at her lips as she decided to make things a bit harder for the blonde.

“I already have a partner Sir Swan, you’re late.”

“I slayeth a troll for you, hence my tardiness my Queen,” Emma threw in another cutesy bow for good measure, laying a hand on the sword strapped around her waist. She really wanted to dance with Regina.

Regina rolled her eyes but decided to play along. “Where hence are these trolls you speak of, Sir Swan?”

“They were internet trolls my lady, hidden behind the curtain of anonymity,” Emma shook her head disdainfully, “…nasty, lust driven things who dareth to speaketh of your wet undergarments.”

“Stopeth,” Regina shook her head in frustration but smirked, “…stop.”

Emma smirked back to her. “Your wisheth is my commandeth.”

Leroy looked between both women as if they were crazy.

“Thank you Sir Leroy, you make take your leave,” Regina dismissed the portly man, her eyes never once leaving the sanctity of Emma’s.

The wide spread goofy radiant smile across Emma’s face as she took Regina’s hand was short-lived.

“I lead,” Regina announced pointedly to her knight.

Emma rolled her eyes in a huff, “Of course you do.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Regina raised an eyebrow.

“Nothing!” Emma huffed.

“But clearly it means something.”

“Everything has to mean something with you.”

“Are you saying I’m over reacting?”

“No! I’m saying you’re being a bit too controlling.”

Regina’s mouth fell open. “How dare you!”

Emma had enough. She knew that this situation could escalate further if she gave in to how easily Regina could sweep her away in an argument. Instead, she stepped forward, slipping an arm smoothly around the Queen’s waist and tugging her into her embrace while her other hand threaded their fingers together.

Regina was still gaping at her, clearly at a loss for words.

“Just…” Emma sighed heavily. “Let me be the white knight. Let me lead sometimes, okay?”

Regina didn’t reply, instead she gave in, letting Emma take the lead of their dance as they both began to sway to the ethereal beats of the music. They were both oblivious to everyone observing them from afar.

“I take it the kayak video was a hit?”

“You could say that, it’s getting a lot of hits and comments…uh, it might have to do with your wet tank top,” Emma sheepishly looked into Regina’s eyes with a teasing smile.

Regina took a deep breath. “You can see through it can’t you?”

“Yes, sorry Regina. But with my hands…uh…arms around you…it’s not that bad,” Emma scrunched up her face. “We did manage to block the more unruly trolls and scrub off some of the really unsavory comments.”

“I expect nothing less of a knight,” Regina whispered, a note of gratitude to her voice as she kept her head high despite having unintentionally flashed the world in a wet tank top.

Emma’s cheeks burned as she recalled the entire unedited video. They really did have to work some video editing magic there to protect Regina’s modesty. Just remembering how her hands had been constantly and unintentionally brushing against Regina’s chest had heat pooling in her stomach. The fact that the Queen was dancing with her at all after that gave Emma hope for this burgeoning thing between them and she couldn’t stop grinning the entire time. She wasn’t sure where this hope would lead, but she was beginning to realize she wanted the hope.

Despite the cumbersome nature of the two bulky costumes between them, Regina was impressed that they could pull off a somewhat graceful dance. She noticed that Emma tried so hard to not openly stare at her compressed, elevated cleavage. It was a battle that the blonde was close to losing. The absurdity of it almost made Regina let out a deep chuckle, instead it channeled itself into what felt like fire racing through her abdomen and pooling between her thighs. She tried hard herself not to let her thoughts go completely off to sexy town since a lot of the camp was watching them dance them again, she couldn’t resist.

She leaned closer into Emma, their cheeks brushing against each other as Regina moved her hands to Emma’s strong shoulders. She loved the way Emma’s arms felt wrapped around her waist, loved the way Emma’s eyes glittered just like the fairy lights that hung above and around them. But she didn’t like how Emma’s bulky sword pressed into her side.

“Is that your sword? Or are you happy to see me?” Regina asked, lowering her voice suggestively as her lips brushed teasingly against Emma’s ear. Emma’s breath hitched and her arms tightened around Regina’s hips.

“Honestly, it’s a little of both,” Emma retorted without missing a beat. There was no mistaking the suggestive tone to her voice, although it wasn’t as confident as the Queen. 

“My my, aren’t you eager to please your Queen.” Regina purred, hands drifting into Emma’s curly blonde hair as those green eyes caught hers.

“Very much so, my lady.” Emma breathed and the truth to it struck Regina fiercely. This was real. They weren’t role-playing anymore. They were somewhat admitting their attraction to each other.

They’d both stopped moving, eyes caught up in each other. It suddenly didn’t matter that they were in the middle of a dance floor for all to see wearing bulky costumes that restricted some natural movements like breathing; Regina suddenly wanted to be closer. She wanted this moment to last forever.

Emma smiled, eyes spellbound to Regina’s. Her heart was racing and she was pretty sure that her palms were sweating but none of that mattered, not with the way Regina was looking at her.

This was it. This was the moment she’s been waiting for. And suddenly they were both being pulled in by the other’s magnetism, drifting in closer until all Emma could see were Regina’s eyes fluttering closed and her warm hand softly cupping her cheek. Her senses were on overload, all she could feel was the soft exhales of Regina’s warm breath ghosting across her parted lips and - then it was gone.

Emma’s eyes instantly sprung open, noticing the surprisingly strong hand gripped tightly around her wrist as she was dragged away.

“Hey!” She protested, immediately trying to pry Snow’s hand off of her wrist.

“Your two minutes are up!” Snow announced, shooting Regina a dry look that had the Queen rightly fuming. “You can leave, the party’s almost over anyway.”

“I demand that you bring my knight back to me right now!” Regina ordered, but Snow paid her no mind, dragging a pouting Emma off to the side and lecturing her about keeping the ball PG-13 and what it means around impressionable kids.

*****

Regina was definitely regretting agree to babysit Neal so Snow and David could live some bandit bondage sex fantasy in their tent. If she was being completely honest she wanted to have that kind of night with Emma in her knight costume. Perhaps the Queen could summon her knight for a few sexual conquests…in her bunk bed. Regina scrunched up her face; yeah the bunk bed part kind of killed the Queen fantasy. She did however, decide to wear the costume back to the office cabin while carrying Neal and seeing Emma’s face as she entered was worth it. Emma was still wearing hers and she looked just as stunning. Regina swallowed thickly; letting go of that fantasy was going to be harder than she thought. Plus, she was furious with Snow at the moment for interrupting their almost kiss on the dance floor. When Snow had handed off Neal for the night, Regina could do nothing but growl back at her boss.

“Why is Neal with you? Here?” Emma hoped her question didn’t sound as annoyed as she truly felt, she really wasn't really happy to see the cute toddler. She had this crazy idea of asking Regina if she could search her for ticks and help her get out of the Queen costume.

“Snow said that she and David needed some ‘alone time’,” Regina rolled her eyes. “We’re babysitting for the night.” She wanted to kick herself, why had she added ‘we’re’ she meant she was babysitting.

Emma smirked, she was glad she wasn’t the only annoyed one. Her stomach fluttered hearing Regina include her in babysitting, like they were a package deal.

“Have to say, it’s quite the picture you in that dress holding Neal.” Emma smirked, “That costume doesn’t scream Mary Poppins.”

Neal clapped his hands and tugged costume, there was a lot to grab onto; it wasn’t exactly kid friendly.

Emma quickly pulled off her armor, leaving her in some leggings and loose fitting tunic.

“I’m stinky, but less pointy than you are right now,” Emma grinned, reaching for Neal, who leaned in happily to her opened arms. “Do you need help...getting out of that?” She motioned to Regina’s large, bulky costume.

Regina pursed her lips; she actually did need Emma’s help. “Can you undo the corset in the back? You can put Neal in his playpen.”

Emma put Neal in the playpen and gave him a stuffed bunny to play with. She then turned to Regina, inhaling deeply as her shaky hands reached for the zipper at the back of the dress. She had imagined they would be alone when undressing was happening and not have a toddler watching them and calling their names. Emma realized she wouldn’t have done anything anyway, she had no idea if Regina actually liked her or was really attracted to her; she just had a gut feeling.

As the zipper descended, Emma’s throat got significantly...drier. Her eyes lazily wandered down the expanse of smooth olive skin that was revealed as the top part of the dress fell away, leaving Regina in her corset.

It was a challenge keeping her eyes from wandering, especially when she had to undo the corset and actually touch Regina’s skin. But somehow, she managed, even if her face was a flaming shade of red.

After everyone was changed and Neal and Emma each had a snack, they got settled on the couch with Neal sandwiched in between them as they watched Toy Story.

The kid absolutely refused to sleep in his playpen, which, in Emma’s opinion, looked comfy. He wanted Aunt Gina and wanted to sleep with her in her bed. Emma couldn’t blame him but she was quite surprised that Regina agreed without much convincing and settled against the pillows on her small bunk bed with Neal.

Within a few minutes of cuddling, Neal was out like a light, Emma’s gentle voice coaxing him to sleep with a bedtime story involving the stuffed bunnies hanging down from her top bunk. Both women were exhausted too and within minutes of putting the toddler to bed, some of their frustrations were soon forgotten as sleep claimed them both.


	10. Popsicles

The morning had a been a fun surprise when Emma woke up first and snuck a peak at the lower bunk bed to find Neal sitting up awake and Regina still asleep next to him. He sat there quietly playing with a stuffed bunny, amusing himself as he placed it on top of Regina’s head. When he looked up and saw Emma he said her name loudly, which did wake up Regina.

“Morning sunshine, sleep well?” Emma asked a very confused, sleepy Regina, laughing when Regina finally realized the bunny was on top of her head and gently placed it back into Neal’s outstretched arms

“No, not at all,” Regina squeezed her eyes shut and ran her hands through her messy hair. Her hair had a lot of natural curls and they were wild and free this morning, it was a gorgeous look on the usual well coiffed brunette. She squinted her eyes open to see Emma’s goofy grin amongst a mass of messy blonde locks hanging upside down from the top bunk. She couldn’t help a smile tugging on her lips as she closed her eyes once again.

Regina’s wild curls stirred a host of messy butterflies in Emma’s stomach. She continued to hang over her bed and watch the brunette and the toddler.

“Geeena waaake up,” Neal giggled as he bounced up and down on the bed.

There was a knock on their door so Emma swung her legs around and climbed down off the top bunk. A yawn escaped her lips as she did a couple of restricting stretches realizing that she was still wearing her leggings and tunic from yesterday. When she opened the door, it was to Snow’s glowing, smiling face. Emma groaned internally, she didn’t really want to see someone else’s after sex glow right now, she wanted an after sex glow of her own. Specifically she wanted an after Regina sex glow. 

Snow greeted them all cheerfully, brushing past Emma to scoop up her baby boy off Regina's bed. Neal wanted to leave the stuffed bunny with Regina as it fell from his little hands back down on her bed. Emma watched them and smiled, she couldn’t help but love the domestic feel to the situation. She walked over to Neal in his mother's arms and he raised his arms to switch carriers. Emma grabbed the kid as he launched himself in her arms; she gave the kid a kiss on his cheek and then leaned him over Regina’s bed as the brunette sat up and kissed him goodbye as well.

“Are you ready for today?” Emma asked Snow as she walked to the door and handed Neal over once more to his mother.

“Yes, I’m excited to be in a video. Not sure I’ll make as big as impression as Regina but it will be fun,” Snow kissed Neal on his little cheek. “See you both soon.” Once again, Snow couldn’t help but think she was leaving a couple’s home which was crazy since Regina and Emma had only been sharing the cabin for a few days, yet there seemed to be this feeling of familiarity, like they had always been together.

*****

Emma was a little nervous; this had the potential to be their biggest video post yet, even bigger than Regina’s wet shirt video. The fact that they were making it their first live stream was adding even more stress. Snow, their famous namesake, had agreed to test out the new bow and arrow in a video at the camp for all the campers and their live viewers to see. Everyone had kept it a secret, hoping to get a viral video from the big reveal.

Almost the entire camp had gathered around to watch the legendary Mary Margaret Snow test out a new SnowArcher bow and arrow. This was how the company started out; selling archery supplies and giving lessons. All the staff were wearing their SnowArcher t-shirts with khaki cargo pants. 

Alice and Robyn handled the technical aspects, filming and making sure everything stayed in the shot. Emma was hosting as usual. Henry wanted to stand up close and get a real view of Snow showing off her skills. After some begging and pleading with his mom, Henry got his wish. Emma had assured Regina she would stand right next to him and everything would be fine. So Snow took center stage, getting ready to aim at the targets further off in the distance. Henry stood beside Snow with Emma next to him.

“We’re here at SnowArcher Camp with a huge special treat. Snow, the woman herself is going to test our new product. A bow and arrow from the new SnowArcher Collection,” Emma made a sweeping hand motion over the bow and arrow while Snow smiled and waved to the camera.

“Thank you, Emma.” Snow lifted up a shiny new bow with a few arrows. “This is a new series we are product testing, hoping to bring our friends the best sporting goods out there,” Snow beamed into the camera.

Emma winced a little; Snow was a fearless leader but not great on camera. “All right, let’s see what this new bow can do.”

Snow then got into position, pulled back on the string and held her stance. Emma watched everything with rapt attention, for some reason she had a bad feeling. She looked at the bow and arrow closely. She wondered if testing so many products had given her a sixth sense that something was going to go wrong.

All of a sudden, the string wobbled and Emma’s eyes caught it. She grabbed Henry’s arm, shoving him behind her fearing if the string broke it would hit him. Then sure enough a millisecond later the string snapped and shot straight into Emma’s arm as she shielded Henry.

“Oh my gosh! Is everyone okay?!” Snow’s wide eyes dropped to the broken string.

A ripple of gasps ran through the audience as Regina ran up to look over Henry, shaky hands searching him for any type of injury before pulling him into a tight hug. As soon as she could tell Henry was fine because Emma had shielded him, her eyes were immediately on the blonde’s bleeding arm. Henry stepped a few feet away from both women. 

“Boss! Are you okay?” Alice asked shakily, looking from the tablet she was holding, but motioning for Robyn to keep filming.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Emma gritted out with a raised eyebrow in between rapid, breaths and huge eyes. “Kid, you okay?” She asked, trying to ignore the white hot pain searing up her arm as she got a head nod and a shaky smile from Henry.

“Thank you, Emma,” Regina said softly as she moved closer to stare into Emma’s eyes. Regina’s heart pumped erratically in her chest, sweat trickled down her back. Her elbows pressed into her side, as she hugged herself; it helped her to not reach out and hug Emma.

All Emma could do was get lost in Regina’s dark intense eyes, “Any time.” Emma cringed; clearly her brain was still in shock because of Henry almost getting hurt. She would have felt like she got shot in the gut if Henry had accidentally gotten hurt.

Alice leaned over and showed the tablet to Robyn, whose eyebrows shot up. The live stream was getting more hits and views as tons of comments popped up. And all the comments mostly wanted the same thing, for Regina and Emma to kiss. This streaming audience evidently was already invested in this product placement relationship after only two interactions.

Robyn cleared her throat to get Emma and Regina’s attention, she pointed to Alice and the tablet with one hand as she kept filming with the other.

Emma gradually came out of her Regina haze; she noticed that everyone was focused on them. Clearing her throat to distract from her burning cheeks, she observed the screen of the tablet.

“Looks like we are getting a lot of comments,” she said, squinting to read some of the comments while Alice angled it to her. “Yes, thank you everyone. I’m fine.” Emma looked at her bleeding arm. “Just a little blood…okay, a lot of blood.” The cut looked deeper than she originally thought but clearly she was still hopped up on adrenaline since she could barely feel a thing.

The camp nurse was waiting on standby with a giant first aid kit motioning wildly for her to tend to the arm.

Emma rocked back on the balls of her feet nervously, trying to think of a way to wrap up the live stream.

“Looks like everyone wants a better thank you from you Regina,” Emma smirked, waving to the camera being pointed at them by Robyn. She was just teasing Regina, she suddenly felt light headed and she didn’t know if because she had gotten hurt or because she really did hope Regina was going to kiss her. 

Regina then squinted at the tablet as Alice held it just out of frame of the camera; she was surprised how many comments there were urging her to comfort Emma. There were some wanting them to share a hug but most were suggesting in all caps that she KISS EMMA. Kiss Emma?

She was extremely grateful the blonde had shielded her son from getting Henry. Emma might have a deep cut on her arm that possibly needed stitches, but it would have been much worse for young Henry. She was overcome with all of those messy emotions that got tangled within her whenever she thought of Emma. It was definitely a mix of fear, worry, gratitude, repressed lust and maybe something more. She looked at Emma who still a little out of breathe from shock, blood running down her arm yet refusing the attentions of the nurse for the sake of a damn video. She rolled her eyes affectionately, hoping that the injury wasn’t as bad as it looked as Emma’s eyes caught hers and then she turned to give a warm smile and wink to Henry. Before Regina knew what she was doing, she turned to fully face Emma. She moved in closer and very swiftly cupped the blonde’s face between warm palms. Emma’s eyes found hers, but Regina didn’t linger as she leaned in and kissed Emma’s soft, parted lips.

Emma stood frozen. One minute she was joking with Regina and now the brunette’s lips were pressed against her own. Regina was kissing her. Oh God, she was kissing her with an audience. Kissing her in front of her son, her boss, her niece and quite possibly thousands of live stream viewers. Yet, Emma couldn’t hold onto any rational thought for any longer when she felt Regina’s tongue glide over her lips. Emma had to stop her knees from buckling; Regina’s thank you on her lips was smoldering to say the least. As if on instinct her hands inched around Regina’s waist and held tight.

Regina couldn’t believe she was kissing Emma and she also couldn’t believe she never wanted to stop. 

Everything, everyone else faded away and all Emma could think about, could focus on were those soft, enchanting lips. Rationality took a hike as a velvet tongue caressed her mouth silently begging for entrance, which Emma discovered herself powerless to deny. Lips parting that tongue, which she so desperately craved slipped within soon finding hers, tasting hers. Butterflies took flight within her stomach and Emma couldn’t recall wrapping her arms around the woman, yet she clung to her as though Regina were on the brink of departing for an extended trip a thousand miles away.

They both got lost in the kiss. And the comments on the live stream grew even more, there were so many pops going on it sounded like a fireworks show on a national holiday.

Emma reluctantly pulled away from Regina. She paused for a moment to gather herself then she turned to the camera.

“And that kids is why we test our products…” Emma felt dazed; she paused again and tried to find a way to end the video. “Thank you for watching…always test before you buy.” She cringed; she had no idea what she was saying anymore.

Snow stepped over as soon as the camera was off. “Emma, I’m so sorry. We are investigating the manufacturers of every part of this product. We are not selling any of these new arrows until we have a new design.”

“You need medical attention now,” Regina ordered Emma to the camp infirmary. She felt flushed and light headed. Had she really just made out with Emma in front of her son and the world to see? She stood momentarily frozen as Snow led Emma to the infirmary. Her emotions were in whirlwind, her cheeks felt war, her lips felt hot and lower region felt on fire. She hoped she didn’t look as turned on as she felt. Kissing Emma was way beyond anything she ever expected. She expected if they ever did kiss it would be good, she never thought it would fly past good and go right to the ‘best of’ category. 

Henry wanted to go with Emma to the infirmary but Regina promised him it was just a scratch and he needed to keep to his camp schedule.

After, all the kids were sent to their next activity and damage control was talked over about the product and any bad publicity from the live stream; Regina went to check on Emma at the infirmary. She was thankful before she got there, she heard Granny call out to her from the kitchen.

“Looking for your mate?” Granny looked up from the vegetables she was cutting.

“My uh, cabin mate yes,” Regina regarded Granny.

“Emma said she wanted to rest before the afternoon activities,” Granny stopped chopping and moved around the massive kitchen. “Here take her a sandwich.” The older women reached inside the refrigerator and pulled out two sandwiches and two drinks. 

Regina took a deep breath, she was relieved she didn’t have to step foot inside the infirmary. She didn’t like hospitals; they brought back too many painful memories of Daniel.

“Do you have any popsicles?” Regina felt a little weird asking, but yet she always gave Henry a popsicle or ice cream if he was hurt, seemed to make things better.

“Good idea, I would imagine that chowhound would like that,” Granny went over to the freezer. “What flavors do you want?”

“Strawberry and grape…please,” Regina replied with a smile to Granny. 

*****

When Regina walked into the office cabin, the air conditioning was blowing cool air, prickling her warm skin with goose bumps that popped up along her arms. She could see Emma lying on the couch with her eyes closed. She crept in as quietly as she could, holding a cup in one hand and a small bag in the other. Before she could even reach the desk, she heard Emma stir.

“Hey,” Emma said in a soft voice, the couch cushions crunching beneath her.

“Hey,” this time Regina’s ‘hey’ wasn’t as harsh as her previous ‘heys’ to Emma have been. She thought that she could possibly get used to it. “I thought you might be hungry.” The bag crinkled in her hands, as she got closer to the desk.

“Yeah, I’m starving. I guess getting hit by a runaway arrow string by the one and only Snow will do that,” Emma sat up on the couch slowly, her arm throbbed and the stitches itched.

“I’ve got sandwiches and popsicles,” Regina announced, setting things out on the desk as she pushed her work papers aside.

“Popsicles first please,” Emma reached out her hand. Regina pursed her lips together. “They’re going to melt. It’s logic.”

“Strawberry or grape?” Regina sighed, resigned, yet she let her disapproval be known with a raised eyebrow. But that only made Emma smile.

“Grape,” Regina handed the purple popsicle to Emma.

Emma eagerly tore off the paper and was about to throw it on the floor when Regina cleared her throat loudly. The brunette walked over, picked up the trashcan and brought it closer to the couch. With a deep sigh, Emma threw the wrapper in the trash bin. She watched as Regina tore off the wrapper to her strawberry popsicle wrapper with a flourish and deposit it in the trash can in a dramatic action, then brought it to her mouth. 

The sound Regina made then was borderline pornographic. Emma’s cheeks reddened as the brunette’s eyes fluttered shut and her tongue darted out in sure long strokes along the surface of the popsicle. Emma was spellbound; she couldn’t take her eyes off Regina and the longer she kept staring the more labored her own breathing got. She was deeply jealous of that popsicle and the lavish attention it was receiving from Regina’s tongue.

“That was some kiss,” Emma blurted out before her brain could stop her mouth. She couldn’t help it, it was some kiss and she wanted another one. She wanted to know how Regina felt about it. “Some thank you kiss…for the camera…” She realized her tone was higher pitched at the end, as if asking a question; which she was asking. Regina’s eyes opened then, making intense eye contact with Emma. Emma’s face reddened even more if possible and she took the grape popsicle to her mouth and sucked on it for a distraction, exaggerating the slurping sound.

But the action seemed a bit counterproductive; especially with the way Regina’s eyes never left her lips.

Regina raised an eyebrow, eyes dancing with amusement as her lips quirked in the faintest smile. “Eloquent as ever, Miss Swan.”

Emma rolled her eyes. “You know what I meant.”

“It was some kiss...and it was on camera,” Regina clarified as she stuck her strawberry popsicle back in her mouth sucking even harder on it if possible and releasing an even louder slurping noise than Emma.

Emma cleared her unnervingly dried throat, eyes never leaving where Regina’s pink tongue danced along the surface of the popsicle, stirring a deep warmth that bloomed fervently between her thighs. 

A careful silence fell between them as they observed each other licking their respective popsicles until Emma took one particularly long swipe of her own grape popsicle. Regina’s eyes were suddenly fixated on Emma’s mouth, those dark eyes slowly drinking her in as her teeth sunk into her lower lip, popsicle forgotten. Emma couldn’t fight the rising intensity between them, she reveled in it, in the way Regina was watching her with a hunger to her eyes that promised so much more. Emma grinned; she was beating Regina at her own game. Her tongue coyly teased at the length of her popsicle and before she knew it Regina let out a breathy groan as she reached over and snatched the grape popsicle out of Emma’s hand.

“Hey!” Emma protested weakly in mock outrage as Regina threw both her and Emma’s frozen treats in the trash. She leaned into Emma’s space, eyes falling to Emma’s purple stained lips as Emma stared back at her red stained lips, chest heaving with anticipation.

“Here’s another thank you kiss…off camera,” Regina whispered, just a hair's breadth away from Emma’s mouth, closing the distance between them to press her supple lips to Emma’s eager ones.

Emma wasn’t as hesitant as she was before, maybe because there wasn’t an audience this time and it wasn’t being recorded. The biggest reason was that Regina knew this kiss wasn’t on camera for show; this was just for the two of them. She surged forward, an eager groan rattling deep in her throat as she sunk into the kiss. Kissing Regina Mills was like nothing she’s ever experienced before. Emma’s hands grasped at Regina’s shoulders, molding their chests together as Regina’s mouth slanted perfectly against her own.

“Emma.” Regina spoke her name in a breathy sigh against Emma’s mouth, sending actual electricity cascading down her spine. Or maybe it was magic. Regina seemed to take charge by hungrily attacking Emma’s mouth and sliding her tongue over her lips, teasing Emma just the right way. Emma was helpless beneath her skillful mouth as Regina’s tongue gracefully slid in and out, teasing her relentlessly. Emma moaned loudly, loving the feel of Regina’s velvet tongue stroking inside her mouth, it was so distracting that she didn’t feel Regina’s arms slipping around her shoulders as she hovered over her.

Regina surprised Emma with her strength when she pushed the willing blonde over to the other side of the couch and straddled her waist. They were still lip locked, neither one breaking the kiss long enough to give up the wet pleasurable sounds filling the room as they lost themselves in the haze of each other’s lips. Emma had decided to get back at Regina by holding her tongue hostage as her hands slipped lazily beneath Regina’s shirt, palming warm soft skin. Regina responded to this action by bulking her hips against Emma’s pelvic bone prompting Emma’s competitive nature as she sucked on Regina’s tongue in response like she had been doing to the popsicle. What she didn’t expect was that Regina would like it so much the bucking of Regina’s hips got more frantic as Emma’s thigh slipped easily between her legs, pressing intimately against Regina. Regina whimpered the minute Emma made contact and Regina’s hands found their way to Emma’s hair, trapping fistfuls of blonde curls as she kissed Emma with an intensity that shook the blonde to her core. 

Emma moaned, her own hips jerking up in response to the delicious sounds leaving Regina’s mouth. She placed both hands on each side of Regina’s ass and lifted up slightly so Regina was now firmly planted on her thigh, keeping her in place. Her hands dug into the back of Regina’s cargo pants hard, wishing the barrier wasn’t there as her hands ached to touch the smooth skin she imagine below.

Regina broke the kiss, lips falling to the crook of Emma’s neck as Emma’s hands controlled the motion of her hips. Her heart was racing as she raced towards a climax that was fast approaching, that feeling within her building to a deafening crescendo. All she could hear was Emma’s soft sounds of pleasure, all she could feel were Emma’s hands as they slipped beneath her shirt again, teasing at the skin that lay just beneath her waistband. Regina started moaning, grinding harder against Emma’s thigh and gasping louder.

“Regina.” Emma moaned her name, lips planting soft sweet kisses along Regina’s temple as their frantic bucking continued, stirring that heat that had Regina biting her lower lip.

Emma’s own sex throbbed, and she was painfully aware of the wetness that had settled between her legs just at the thought of Regina, coming for her; she was about to come just listening to Regina. Regina’s mouth was all over her face and neck, pressing messy kisses that seared heat into Emma’s skin, Emma kissed her back hard whenever their lips crashed together unknowingly pushing Regina closer to a climax without even touching her where she wanted to touch her the most. Regina grabbed a tight hold on Emma’s hair once again, anchoring her mouth to Emma’s skin as Emma’s thigh met her center again and again. And with one last clash of their hips, Regina gasped, crying out when her orgasm shuddered through her body as her fevered forehead pressed against Emma’s. 

Emma could feel Regina shaking against her and she was so close to coming too, just feeling and hearing Regina’s orgasm ripple through her body.

When Regina finally reopened her eyes, she stilled her hands that had been clenching and unclenching Emma’s hair uninhibited. Emma was still in a sexual haze with completely blown pupils staring back at her. That look alone had Regina aching to know how Emma would taste on her lips.

“That was the sexiest thing I’ve ever seen,” Emma whispered in a completely breathless voice unknowingly sending ripples of desire coursing through Regina. Regina noted the presence of the purple and red coloring stains around Emma’s lips and scattered around her neck. Emma smiled impishly, leaning up to place a wet open mouthed on Regina’s neck. She sucked, hard, running her tongue along Regina’s warm skin causing Regina to shudder pleasantly and unintentionally buck against her. Emma’s grin widened.

“I…uhhh…” Regina’s face reddened making her feel self-conscious. Her brain was catching up now and she realized she just came….on Emma. She humped Emma like a horny dog in heat and had an orgasm without being touched intimately. Emma’s strong arms were wrapped tightly around her back, hands tugging at her shirt likely wanting Regina to pull it off. Her mind and body were at a war, her mind wanted to flee from embarrassment, her body was screaming to tear off Emma’s clothes and tease her tongue over every inch of her bare skin.

Regina stumbled off of Emma, eyes frantically darting around the room as she steadied herself on shaky legs. She looked like a trapped animal wanting to flee to safety. Her lips were likely still stained purple along with her tongue and she had left red smudges all over Emma’s neck and face. And in return Emma had left purple smudges and smears all over Regina.

Emma’s brows furrowed as she reached out to hold Regina’s arm, tugging on Regina’s pants and pulling her closer again. She sat up, eyes only for Regina as she moved slowly, lifting the shirt and placing a gentle kiss against Regina’s bare stomach. Regina’s stomach fluttered, hands immediately falling to the top of Emma’s head, tangling in curls once more. Emma was happy to hear Regina responding to her kisses. Her hands slowly moved up Regina’s sides, still feeling the little tremors beneath her fingertips as her lips moved further up. 

But before they could continue, there was a loud knock on the other side of the room.

“Boss! You okay?” Alice yelled through the door.

Regina’s eyes went wide and before Emma could breathe another word to her, she dashed to the bathroom.

Emma was left alone, slightly freaked out and so very turned on she could barely function. She stood up to answer the door on shaky legs and drenched underwear.

“Uh, boss…” Alice winced looking at Emma. “…was just wondering if you wanted to look at the set up for the mountain bike video…if you’re feeling up to it.” Alice couldn’t take her eyes off her extremely disheveled boss.

“Yeah…sure…” Emma couldn’t really think right now, she knew her pants were extremely uncomfortable and she wanted to change. Yet, she felt like Regina needed some space. She looked around lost then stepped out the door.

“Uh boss...you need to uh...clean up a bit before going back out.” She a motioned up and down Emma’s body, then circled back to her face and unruly hair. “You look like…” She didn’t know how to tell her boss, “…you’ve been making out with Elmo.”

Emma glanced at the shut bathroom door and knew Regina wasn’t going to let her in. She tried to run her fingers through her hair but it was teased to an absolute mess from Regina’s amorous administrations. Emma’s skin warmed just remembering how Regina’s skin felt beneath her lips. She cleared her throat loudly, desperately trying to clear the image away from her mind as her eyes found Alice’s.

“I’m going go jump in the lake,” Emma said swiftly, dashing out the door at full speed for the lake. Between the painkillers and making out with Regina, she totally forgot she had new stitches in her arm.

Alice yelled after her, “Boss! What about your stitches!”

Emma ran to a more secluded part of the lake, tore off her boots and plunged into the cool water. She ran her hands over her face, gently moving back and forth over her neck. She wondered if she had gotten all the red dye off her face and neck. She didn’t want to lose the red dye; she didn’t want to think that just happened could ever be forgotten.

“Damn it, forgot my stitches.”


	11. If the office cabin is a rockin, don’t come knockin

Both women were in a whirlwind of emotions for the rest of the day. Emma looked everywhere for Regina, never finding her. Regina hid from Emma for the rest of the day; hoping not to run into the blonde until she could think clearly. They both went through the motions of their day, lost in their heads. 

Emma felt her stomach flutter wildly when she finally saw Regina at the mandatory staff meeting after the s’mores. People were milling around waiting for it to start. Emma walked up to Regina who was talking to Dorothy and Ruby.

“Hey, Emma how is the arm?” Ruby asked looking on with concern. “That was pretty badass of you.” She winked to the blonde.

“It’s fine…uh, Regina can I talk to you,” even though Emma answered Ruby, she was only looking at Regina.

Ruby and Dorothy looked to each other and then back and forth between Emma and Regina. It was obvious the typically fierce intimidating brunette who usually stared people down for sometimes just coughing in a meeting was not looking up to meet the blonde’s eyes.

“I need some more drink, c’mon Dorothy,” Ruby pulled on Dorothy’s arm away from Emma and Regina.

Emma stared with hopeful eyes at Regina.

“Can we please talk?” Emma asked quietly. “I have this bad feeling you’re not coming back to the office cabin tonight.” She leaned into Regina’s space, still not trying to look too obvious to their fellow co-workers. Emma thought; the last thing Regina wanted was a rumor she was sleeping with Emma.

Regina walked over to the fire and pretended to be warming her hands on a rather non-chilly night.

“Regina, can we talk later?” Emma walked over to stand next to Regina and mimicked her movements.

“Okay…” Regina looked into Emma’s eyes then turned and went over to sit on a bench.

Unbeknownst to them, Rob had been watching their interaction and he had already been heavily drinking. Plus, he was super bitter about being turned down by Regina, not a good combination.

Rob wobbled closer to Emma and spoke in loud voice slurring his words, “Don’t waste your time blondie, her legs are locked together at the knees.”

A few of the people in the small group gasped. Raged filled Emma and before she even knew what she was doing her fist lifted up and she punched Rob so hard in the face he fell backward, hitting a log bench and falling down in the dirt.

Emma stormed off and Regina sat stunned. Rob groaned on the ground in the pain, while nobody went to see if he was okay. Almost everyone turned to stare at Regina; she pursed her lips and stood up. Robyn and Alice who had seen the altercation from the other side of the campfire rushed over to her side. 

“Aunt Gina, are you okay?” asked Robyn as she rubbed her hand over Regina’s arm. 

“She’s such an idiot at times,” Regina huffed, her eyes looking off in the distance where Emma disappeared. 

“She’s pretty awesome too,” Alice said with a smile, Regina and Robyn glared back at her. 

Alice twisted her hands and felt her cheeks grow warm while shivers ran down the young blonde woman’s spine. “I’m uh, going to go…” Alice made a hand gesture to Robyn, she didn’t want to say she was going to look for Emma if she was going to get another icy glare of Regina. 

Robyn smiled to Alice, then she pulled Regina away from the campfire and towards the office cabin. 

“Why would she do that?” Regina huffed out to the night air, she got a shrug of shoulders from her niece. 

As they walked along the path on the forest trail, Robyn tried to help. “Maybe she was defending your honor?”

“I can defend my own honor,” Regina snapped back. 

“Of course you can, but isn’t it nice when someone else does, like a knight?” Robyn offered softly to her aunt. “I really like her Aunt Gina."

“She’s a big, messy overgrown child,” Regina found anger coursing through her veins, yet something else that made her entire body feel lit up like a holiday tree. 

“Well, maybe she’s a fixer upper?” Robyn asked Regina. “And you know the only thing that can fix a fixer upper is…”

“Say the next part and you’ll find yourself thrown in the lake,” Regina threatened her niece. “And walking all the way back to the city.”

They continued their walk back in silence, when they finally reached the office cabin; Robyn gave her aunt a hug and a warm smile before she went off to find her blonde. 

Meanwhile, deciding it was best to take some time to cool off, Emma grabbed a flashlight and headed out for a walk around the grounds. Her mind was racing. How could she have punched that guy? She didn’t even know if her and Regina were a thing. No, you know what? Thing or not, she wasn’t about to just stand by and listen to some sleazy guy besmirch Regina’s good name. She just hoped Regina wouldn’t be spooked by the defense of her honor and not want to go any further...in whatever direction they might be going in.

Emma eventually wandered into the kitchen to hide out for a while. She accused Regina of not returning their office cabin and now she was kind of dreading it. She was hoping Regina didn’t return or maybe if she waited long enough she would be asleep. She couldn’t believe she hit Rob, despite her rocky start with Regina; she couldn’t stand the thought of that guy putting his hands on Regina or any one.

Finally, exhaustion was getting the best of her. Getting stitches, somewhat consummating a fledgling attraction, redoing her stitches and then possibly ruining her professional career by punching a sleazy guy in the face all in one day, really took it out of her. She slowly trudged up to the office cabin and carefully walked inside. To her surprise, Regina was there in the office cabin pacing around the room.

Regina turned and stared at Emma, brown eyes met green eyes. The two women stayed motionless for a few seconds just watching each other.

“I know that was wrong and so profoundly unprofes…” Emma couldn’t finish her sentence because Regina stormed up to her, grabbed her shirt and smashed their lips together.

Emma’s eyes went wide; she had been bracing herself for a slap or perhaps a termination of her job, not a literal tongue lashing by one of her superiors. She had been so scared and worried about her actions. And now Regina’s kiss filled her with peace, warmth and extreme longing to keep kissing her all night and hopefully for the rest of her life. She immediately yanked on Regina’s hips and pulled their bodies together, gripping her hands on her waist and not letting go. Regina’s body molded against her instantly, filling Emma with an intense spark that spread through her whole body. She couldn’t hold down a loud moan when Regina’s tongue entered her mouth and started aggressively dominating. If this was her punishment she was going to start punching a lot more people at work.

Regina’s head was spinning. She did not plan on grabbing Emma and kissing her senseless. She needed to talk to her. She wanted to know Emma’s reasons for attacking Rob. She needed to hear Emma’s tongue speak actual words to explain her actions, not push her own tongue into Emma’s mouth. Yet as soon as Emma entered their room and she saw her face, all she wanted in the world was to kiss the idiotic somewhat chivalrous woman. She wanted to feel those silly outspoken lips on hers. She wanted that injured arm that had shielded her son from harm wrapped around her tightly. She needed to have that brave tongue in her mouth. Regina’s hands were all over Emma’s body, her hands landed and gently yanking on the blonde’s hair. She knew this action was leading straight to more humping and hopefully more explicit naked humping.

Once again, there was a loud knock on the door and the two women very reluctantly pulled apart from each other panting. They stared into each other’s eyes. 

Before Regina could open the door the whole way, Snow barged in carrying Neal in her arms.

“Emma, we need to talk,” Snow said in a serious tone.

Regina tried to calm her breathing very quickly and compose herself, to look like she hadn’t just been plunging her tongue deep into Emma’s mouth and would have plunged her tongue in a lower place in mere minutes without the interruption. She really wanted her tongue all over and inside Emma. She shook her head, this was a bizarre process for her, she normally didn’t think of all the places where she wanted to trail her tongue over someone’s body, especially in front of her boss.

Emma really hoped she didn’t look as aroused as she felt, she wanted to shove Snow out the door and rip Regina’s clothes and make her scream for at least ten hours.

Snow looked between the two women, she couldn’t tell if they had been fighting or possibly making out, really could go either way. She thought she would come and interrupt whatever was going on, plus, she had an ulterior motive to her barging in. The two women kind of looked like they had been heavily making out with red lips, extremely disheveled hair and clothes and just all around glow about them instead of fighting, then again hard to tell with these two, she thought. She almost felt bad for interrupting whatever was going on, yet she was the boss and Regina’s friend, she wanted to look out for everybody. She didn’t want them doing anything they might regret later in the heat of the moment.

“Snow, I’m so sorry. Is Rob okay?” Emma scrunched up her nose.

“His pride is a little bruised, but he’s fine.” Snow shifted Neal as he became more animated in her arms.

“Geeena! Geeena!” Neal looked over to Regina with big eyes and reached out his arms.

Regina rolled her eyes and reached and took Neal into her arms. Neal made no secret that Regina was one of his favorite humans in the world.

Emma watched Neal happily in Regina’s arms once again, playing with her hair and patting her chest. She thought that kid was one lucky asshole.

“Do you want me to resign?” Emma asked in a shy voice.

“Oh no, please. Rob totally deserved it. I’m just here for show and because David isn’t feeling well. So I was hoping Neal could stay here tonight.” Snow asked with pleading eyes.

“Snow…” Regina glared at her, “you’re lying. About David.” She did not want to babysit Neal again tonight. She wanted, she needed to get back to kissing Emma.

“Please, Regina,” Snow said in most pleading voice, she added big eyes to the begging. “Last night was so magical.”

Regina and Emma both internally let out the biggest groan and their faces did terrible jobs at hiding it.

“Uh, yeah sure,” Emma caught her mouth speaking without permission. She did not want to babysit again tonight. Yet, Snow was being really nice about the whole punching thing so it was hard to turn her down. Even this meant she was going to have to take a really long cold shower.

“Emma...” Regina objected with a growl.

“What? Look at her face?” Emma pointed to Snow’s face.

“You’re not the one who had to share their small bunk bed last night,” Regina huffed. 

Emma was so jealous over this kid; she really wanted to share that small bunk bed with Regina.

Snow kissed Neal good night and practically sprinted out of the office cabin.

“So I guess they’re playing bandit and knight again,” Regina grumbled while Neal wiggled out of her arms to get down. “I really wanted to play queen and knight tonight,” she said under her breath as she lowered Neal to the ground and watched him go over and pull a stuffed bunny off the couch. 

“What did you say?” Emma thought she heard something rather suggestive leave Regina’s lips. She had a cocky grin on her face as she swaggered up to stand in front of Regina. “Did you have something in mind for tonight?”

Regina gave a shrug and took a deep breath. “I thought we could maybe watch another movie…” she trailed off as she licked her lips and stared at Emma’s lips. 

“Are we going to talk about what happened earlier?” As much as Emma wanted to stare back at Regina’s lips and then start kissing her again, she also desperately wanted to know if the kisses meant anything. 

“Not in front of Neal,” Regina nodded her head towards Neal who was now sitting on the couch. 

“Pretty sure he won’t understand anything unless we started talking about dogs or cheese,” as soon as the words left Emma’s mouth, Neal’s eye got wide. He knew those two words. 

“Cheezzze! Pleeezzz!” Neal jumped off the couch and ran up to Regina and Emma with a hopeful face. 

Emma reached down and grabbed one of the stuffed bunnies and handed it to Neal to distract him. “I don’t think I can kiss you again if it doesn’t mean anything,” she looked into Regina’s eyes, her stomach got tight and her mouth went dry. 

“I don’t think I can kiss you again if you’re going to take off for Boston at any time,” Regina crossed her arms against her chest and stared intensely in Emma’s eyes. 

Emma felt her face grow hot along with her insides, she thought to herself, Regina kind of just confirmed that the kisses did mean something. “Why would I do that if your kiss and your humping meant something?” A sly grin spreading across Emma’s face 

Regina pursed her lips, “Can we never mention the humping again?”

Emma’s grin grew bigger and she licked her lips, “So you don’t go around humping everyone?”

Regina squinted her eyes at Emma, “I’m never humping you again.”

“Really?” Emma’s voice was shaky and she lost her cocky stance with the thought there might never be more Regina humping in her future. 

Regina felt her chest tighten hearing Emma’s uncertain voice. “I’m not stopping you from…humping me.”

A smile started again at the corner of Emma’s mouth and was slowly spreading, “It’s got to be reciprocal.”

“Fine, I’ve never humped anyone before and for some insane reason I want to again with you...there.” Regina’s cheeks felt hot admitting that to Emma, she could feel sweat running down her back. 

“Which means it means something,” Emma felt a swarm or butterflies take flight in her stomach and her center throbbed, she really wished Neal wasn’t in the room with them. 

“What I’m trying to say is that…sex is great and all but it’s not worth disrupting Henry’s life over,” Regina’s voice was soft. 

“Unless it’s really stellar humping like today,” Emma smirked. 

Regina rolled her eyes at Emma. 

Emma reached out and cupped Regina’s face. “I completely agree…that humping meant a lot to me too. I think I only ever humped with one other person, when I was a teenager.”

“You’re never going to let the humping thing go are you?”

Emma closed the distance between them, grabbed onto Regina’s waist and pulled their bodies flush up against each other. 

“Hump!” Neal’s loud, squeaky high pitched voice echoed through the office cabin. 

“Shit, he was listening to us,” Emma looked over to Neal then to Regina who scowled back to her. 

“Shit!” Neal grinned at both of them. “Hump! Shit!” The toddler bounced up and down on the couch while hugging a stuffed bunny. 

“Neal, NO!” Regina ordered. “Miss Swan you are going fix this immediately.”

Emma walked over and swung Neal up into her arms. “Hey buddy, let’s forget we learned those words.” 

“Hump! Shit!” Neal jumped up and down again giggling. Emma grabbed him gently to hold him. 

Regina shook her head, yet a smile escaped her lips watching Emma hold the toddler and while talking reason with him who become fascinated with her ponytail and started yanking on it. 

Eventually, after a long talk, Emma got Neal to stop saying ‘shit’ and ‘hump’, the blonde looked exhausted after this task. Regina and Emma took turns getting ready for bed and watching Neal. There was no point trying to coax Neal into his playpen to sleep, he was already curled up in Regina’s bed. Emma had went over and sat on the floor next to the bed telling him a bedtime story while Regina was still brushing her teeth.

“You sleep there,” Neal pointed at Emma and then the floor.

“Kid, my bed is up there,” Emma pointed to the top bunk bed. “Remember last night?” She ruffled what little hair he had on top of his head.

“No, floor.” Neal pointed to the floor again. “Pzzzzeeese,” the kid smiled and patted Emma’s face.

Emma grumbled while she made a bed on the floor of couch cushions next to Regina’s bed. When Regina exited the bathroom and saw Emma getting ready to lay down on her makeshift bed on the floor next to her bed a huge smug grin spread across her face.

“Well, someone is whipped.”

Emma scowled back to Regina and didn’t say anything. She didn’t want Regina to think she was more whipped for her than this kid; but honestly it was a little of both. Who was she kidding? It’s more Regina. Always. 

“Yeah, not the kind of whipping I was hoping for tonight,” Emma grumbled in a low voice.

Regina walked over and crawled into bed with Neal, the toddler snuggled into her. Emma’s chest felt all warm looking at the two of them cuddled in the bottom bunk bed, she got on her knees and leaned over to kiss Neal goodnight on his forehead, he giggled. She then paused and gazed into Regina’s eyes, she tentatively leaned over to kiss Regina on the cheek good night. The brunette seemed receptive as she smiled and leaned into Emma, when suddenly the blonde was pushed away by little hands.

“No,” Neal had a stern look on his face with furrowed brows as he pushed Emma away from Regina. Emma tried again from a different angle and once again Neal pushed her away.

“No, Geena only kiss me,” Neal had a serious look on his toddler face as he stared at Emma.

Regina leaned over to kiss Neal on his cheek, “Goodnight sweetie.”

Emma tried for a mock pouty face to the toddler who just laughed at her. Regina then tried to lean over to kiss Emma on her cheek; again little arms pulled her back giggling. 

“This kid is starting to get on my nerves. He’s a kiss blocker.” Emma whined, she gently and playfully poked Neal’s belly and he giggled. 

“And a clit blocker,” Regina growled in a low feral tone. 

Emma fell over onto the couch cushions dramatically.

“What? He is,” Regina raised her eyebrows as if to challenge a rebuttal. “And it’s scary how much he takes after his mother.”

Regina got Neal to lay down and finally close his eyes once he saw Emma doing the same thing. Emma was surprised when she felt something touch her hair. Neal draped his arm over the bunk bed to touch her hair. It was hard to stay mad at the little guy when he clearly loved Regina and wanted to install a no kiss policy with her and anybody else. She would also like to install that policy if possible, except she would allow anyone under the age of two for kisses with Regina, then nobody else but her. 

*****

Once again Snow came bright and early to retrieve her son with a massive after glow on her face. Both women groaned as they woke up. Regina sounded like she was cursing under her breath as she shuffled to open the door. Emma flopped back down on the couch cushions on the floor while Neal sat down on the floor and tried to wake her up.

Snow was struck at how domestic Emma and Regina looked together, it warmed her heart and hope sprung up that maybe Regina finally found someone. Of course, she didn’t want to jump to conclusions, despite all their differences and fighting, maybe the two women were becoming friends. Yet that dance other night and Emma’s punching Rob definitely proved in the direction that the two women were developing more than friendly feelings towards each other.

Neal happily said goodbye to Emma and Regina as his mom carried him off.

Emma crawled up and fell into Regina’s bed, sleeping on the floor had been extremely uncomfortable; she needed a nap before another camp day.

Regina walked over and stood over Emma sprawled out on her lower bunk bed. “You get to sleep in only because you have stitches. I’ll go shower first.”

“Why don’t you sleep in too and spoon me,” Emma mumbled into Regina’s pillow.

Regina couldn’t help be utterly charmed by Emma’s request, her stomach fluttered again strongly as her eyes trailed up the blonde’s body. 

“This morning I have my class again, I’m sure Becky will ask more Barbie questions,” looked down at Emma, all Regina wanted was to get into the small bunk bed with the blonde.

Emma groaned loudly into the pillow. Regina reached down and ran her fingers through Emma’s hair.

“You spooned that brat all night,” Emma grumbled.

“Emma, he’s a baby.”

“Still not fair,” Emma huffed.

Regina let out a dramatic sigh. “If I spoon you for two minutes will you get up?”

“Ten minutes,” Emma looked up at Regina and raised her eyebrows.

“Five,” Regina’s counter offered.

“Deal.” Emma grinned up at Regina.

Emma rolled over onto her back, taking up all the space on the small bunk bed and looked up at Regina with dark hooded eyes.

“I’m not straddling you again…that leads to trouble,” Regina looked once again slightly embarrassed.

“You say trouble…I say fun.”

“On your side Miss Swan,” Regina ordered.

“Yes, ma’am.” Emma rolled onto her side with a grin.

Emma turned on her side, Regina slid into the small bunk with her and moved close to push her body up against Emma’s back. Emma moaned feeling Regina’s breasts pressed up against her. Regina then pushed her arm under Emma’s head and her other arm went around Emma’s waist, settling on her stomach. She nuzzled Emma’s neck, gently burying her face in the golden locks until she reached the blonde’s neck where she placed soft kisses. Emma squirmed and pushed her body further into Regina’s big spoon.

Regina didn’t mean to start kissing Emma’s neck as soon as she was spooning the blonde, she couldn’t help herself. She reached up moved Emma’s hair to the side so she could have better access to the blonde’s neck. As soon as she did, Regina sucked hard on Emma’s neck, which drove the blonde to arch her back and press for more contact. 

Emma decided to take a bold move then, she moved her hand on top of Regina’s hand that was drawing slow circles on her stomach and she pulled the hand up to cup her breast. Regina squeezed, and then ran her finger over Emma’s nipple, eliciting even louder moans.

Regina knew she should put a stop to this, yet she couldn’t. She wanted Emma. She wasn’t exactly certain when the needing and wanting started, but it had been building for months whether she wanted to admit it or not.

Emma turned her head and Regina claimed her lips immediately. And not only did Regina claim Emma’s lips, she started devouring them, she plunged her tongue into her mouth with such a ferocity that she felt Emma’s ass push against her for contact.

“This isn’t really what I thought our first time would be like,” Regina whispered as she kissed the edge of Emma’s mouth.

“You thought about a first time?” Emma’s stomach fluttered and she swallowed deeply. “With me?” A grin spread across her lips as Regina placed another kiss on the corner of her mouth. 

“Well, as often as you stared at my ass and my breasts especially in that queen costume, I was confident you would be a willing participate if approached,” Regina felt her own lips match Emma’s grin.

“I need to be approached now,” Emma grabbed Regina’s hand and pulled it down over her center that was aching with need. “Please…Regina…” Emma whispered to Regina as she ran her tongue over her lips. She kissed back with the same vigorous passion as Regina.

Regina kept hand on Emma’s center and drew firm circles. Then she brought her hand up and slid underneath Emma’s boy shorts into her slick warm wet center. Hearing Emma gasp with need made Regina even wetter herself and almost crippled with desire.

“Regina…I need to touch you,” Emma breathed out in between moans.

Regina croaked, “Yes,” in between heavy breathing into Emma’s mouth as she continued kissing her.

Emma slid her hand down into Regina’s pajamas pants then inside her underwear, which much to her delight were drenched. She ran her fingers through wet folds. Much to her delight she heard Regina moaning, “Emma…please…inside.” She took her direct order and entered two fingers inside Regina’s clenched walls.

The two women got into a rhythm and battle of who was going to last the longest, driving each other to ecstasy. It turned out to be a tie. As they panted against each, they both withdrew their hands slowly and started kissing again, holding onto and wrapped up together tightly.

They had no idea how long they had been kissing; time didn’t seem to mean anything once their lips touched. After several missed phone calls, obligations and thoughts of Henry came busting through their kiss haze and interrupted them. 

“I’m going to take a shower.” Regina leaned up and then leaned back down for another long deep kiss to Emma’s waiting lips.

“Is that an invitation?” Emma suggestively raised her eyebrows.

“Did I say I would shampoo your hair or wash your back?”

“I can read between the lines,” Emma waggled her eyebrows back.

Regina rolled her eyes and rolled off of Emma as she got out of bed and headed for the bathroom. She quickly undressed and wrapped a towel around herself as she turned on the shower to heat up. Emma entered the bathroom.

“Miss Swan…turn around, that’s being a bit presumptuous.” Regina said in a teasing tone.

“What? I’ve made you come twice, I can’t see you naked?” Emma raised her eyebrows in a suggestive manner as she ogled the brunette in a towel. “Not even one boob?”

“You’ve seen my ass.”

“As I was getting a tick out, not exactly boner material,” Emma walked over and ghosted her lips over Regina’s neck. “No special sneak peeks even for someone who’s been…inside you.”

Regina shuddered as a strong wave of arousal shot through her again. She hated to admit she was about a minute away from yanking Emma in the shower with her. She could still feel Emma inside her and she wanted it again and again. “Are you usually this horny? Or is this camp atmosphere turning you into a wild hormonal teenager?”

Emma continued to ghost her lips and hands over the towel wrapped around Regina, briefly touching in spots. This was too much for the brunette as she leaned in to every movement for more contact.

“Okay, I admit despite the tick extraction, I still got a lady boner seeing your butt.”

“Out…” Regina pointed to the door with a grin on her face. “I’ve got a class on how to teach kids to become a Chief Operating Officer.”

Emma rolled her eyes and very reluctantly shuffled to the door; she stood looking longingly at Regina with puppy eyes. Regina, clad in only a towel, motioned for Emma to go on and the blonde sighed, closing the door behind her.

*****

Both women missed breakfast by the time they got to the dining hall. They grabbed coffee and some snacks before parting ways for the morning. Regina walked off to her class and Emma went off to finish planning the set up for the mountain bike video and hopefully a little goofing off on the lake. She was going to use the injured arm card as much as she could, even though her arm didn’t really hurt much. While her body still hummed and buzzed from being with Regina, her brain was buzzing for entirely different reasons. She had no idea what they did might mean. She wanted it to mean everything, yet she didn’t know if Regina would feel that way. Regina didn’t let her join her in the shower so maybe it wasn’t all that as she thought it was. She couldn’t imagine not getting to be with Regina again. Okay brain, she thought, we need to chill the fuck out and not have expectations, those get us into trouble. She tried to clear her head as best as she could and count the minutes until Regina’s class was over. 

Regina found it was extremely difficult teaching a class of young kids about business and the complexities of the corporate world when the only thing her mind was focused on was a certain blonde. So many random questions swirling in Regina’s head: ‘What was Emma doing right now? When can I kiss Emma again? When can I see Emma without clothes? When can I feel Emma naked pressed up against me naked?’ Regina shook her R-rated thoughts from her G-rated kid business class. And of course she was plagued with other unsexy thoughts she didn’t want to think about, like ‘What the hell are you doing having sex in a camp cabin with a co-worker? Have you lost your mind? Do you have chiggers?’ She powered through the rest of her class then stormed out onto the campgrounds looking for Emma.

It didn’t take Regina long to find Emma lounging in a long chair by the lake watching the kids jump off the platform and onto the blob while holding a big glass of something to drink. She was wearing a white tank top over a red bikini top with short swimming board shorts.

“Emma watch!” Henry was up on the platform wearing a life preserver yelled down at Emma.

“Ready Henry! Get a better running start this time,” Emma shouted back to Henry up on the tall platform, she noticed Regina walking up. “Be careful!”

Regina squinted at Emma, then looked up to see her young son run as fast as he could down the tall platform and launch himself off the edge, high into the air and onto the blob down below in the lake. There were five kids on the blob and they all went flying off into the lake. 

Emma stood up next to Regina to watch as Henry landed on the blob yelling and laughing; all five kids splashed around in the lake. 

“Great job Henry!” Emma yelled with ‘thumbs up’ gesture to Henry.

“How is that a great job? He jumped off a very high shabby platform onto a plastic monstrosity, he could have broken his arm,” Regina fumed to Emma.

“He knocked off five kids. Five, that’s impressive,” Emma grinned to Regina.

“We have different ideas of impressive,” Regina pursed her lips.

Emma grinned, “You know what is really impressive? Your ass.” She licked her lips as she leaned and whispered into Regina’s ear.

“That is highly inappropriate Miss Swan,” Regina playfully scoffed. Any rational thought of talking to Emma about what happened between them was thrown aside instead for getting to kiss Emma again. 

Henry only had to wait about a minute before he was bounced off the blob into the lake. He swam back to the shore and ran up to the two women on the dock. Emma high fived him and ruffled his hair.

“Mom, did you see that?” Henry’s face lit up looking up at Regina.

Regina glanced over to Emma who tilted her head. “Yes, that was…impressive.”

“Let me see if I can knock off both of you,” Henry looked back and forth between his mom and Emma. 

“Henry, I’m not wearing a bathing suit,” Regina proclaimed in an effort to get out of ever getting on that plastic monstrosity.

“Regina, you’ve already been in the lake twice in clothes, three is the comedy gold number,” Emma offered with a cheeky smile.

“Yes, at some point I would like to go swimming in my designated bathing suit and not be thrown in the water each time unwillingly,” Regina glared at Emma.

Emma grinned back at Regina, she took off her white tank top fully revealing the red bikini top. She noticed that Regina’s eyes went straight to her chest and there was nothing straight about those eyes as they lasciviously scanned over breasts. She could tell Regina was ripping off that bikini top in her mind and she loved it. She bent down and pulled on a life preserver. 

“Okay, see if you can knock me off kid,” Emma turned to walk to the platform when Regina’s hand reached and grabbed her arm.

“Are you crazy? What about your stitches?” Regina demanded.

Emma pointed to her injured arm. “I taped a sandwich bag to it, see it’s waterproof.” She grinned and winked to Regina as she followed Henry to the platform.

Regina shook her head in frustration. “Idiot…wait,” she walked up to Emma and invaded her personal space. She begun to tie up the buckles and straps to Emma’s life preserver. “Please, don’t tear out your stitches again.” 

“Yes Ma’am.” Emma had to fight the urge to lean in and kiss Regina. 

Emma followed Henry up the stairs of the tall platform overlooking the blob in the lake. She waved to Regina below, “Regina, you gotta see the view from up here!” She had a feeling if children were not present that Regina would have shot her ‘the finger’ gesture back. “Okay, here I go.” Emma jumped off the platform and landed with a big thud on the blob. She flailed and ungracefully pulled herself towards the end of the blob. 

“Idiot,” Regina’s heart tightened a bit seeing Emma jump off such a high platform. There was a familiar ache in her stomach and heart that she didn’t like. She shook it off. Henry called down to her and she looked up to see her son yell down to Emma. 

Emma scooted farther down on the blob and waited for Henry to knock her off. Henry took off running on the platform, flew high in the air and landed hard on the blob flinging Emma flying and then landing in the lake with a big splash. She swum over to the shore and as she walked out of the water she took off her life preserver showcasing her red bikini top and taut stomach. 

Regina walked up to Emma trying to look unaffected by the half naked blonde and failed miserably, “How are you stitches?” She cleared her dry throat. 

“Still intact,” Emma proudly showed off her injured arm. 

“Good, let’s get you back to the office cabin to fully check the sutures. And you need to shower…to clean them,” Regina unconsciously licked her lips. 

“Are you going to wash my hair now?” Emma had a cocky grin on her face as she followed Regina. “Have fun Henry, we’ll be back soon.” 

“Henry, listen to your counselor,” Regina ordered her son. “Don’t stay in the water too long.” 

Regina thought they could spend their lunchtime back in the office cabin together, Emma probably needed to rest her arm she thought. But really she just wanted the blonde to herself and preferably naked and of course resting her injured arm naked. 

Emma was thrilled that Regina appeared to be playing hooky and taking her back to their office cabin and hopefully they could pick up where they left off earlier this morning but with no clothes. 

As soon as they got to the office cabin, Emma made a sign to hang on the outside of the door that read, ‘EDITING - GO AWAY. IMPORTANT BUSINESS CONFERENCE CALLS - GO AWAY. DO NOT DISTURB (then in small print ‘Unless you are Henry Mills’). She wanted to put on the sign, ‘MIND BLOWING SEX IN PROGRESS – DO NOT DISTURB UNDER ANY DIRE CIRCUMSTANCES’ or even the cruder ‘SERIOUS FUCKINGS – GO AWAY’; those were all vetoed by Regina. Regina did offer that the sign could read, ‘EMMA SWAN GETTING TOPPED – DO NOT DISTURB’ which was vetoed by Emma. Although, Emma agreed that sign could be hung if there was a companion sign ‘REGINA MILLS POWER BOTTOM SESSION IN PROGRESS – DO NOT DISTURB.’ Regina vehemently vetoed that one as well, earning Emma a scorching kiss as she untied the straps to her red bikini top and pushed Emma towards the shower. 

Regina pulled her lips away from Emma’s mouth, “Are all the sign proposals that horny and juvenile?” 

“If the office cabin is a rockin, don’t come knockin,” Emma leaned and bit down on Regina’s lower lip. 

“Veto,” Regina panted in between kisses. 

With the sign hung, Regina and Emma lost track of time and were not seen by anyone for the rest of the day or night. Not at lunch or dinner or s’mores. Snow assured everyone that her COO and VP were doing paperwork because of Emma’s injury and were busy planning for the big upcoming Decathlon. She really had no idea where the two women were but they had babysat her for the past two nights so she could have adult fun with her husband, they deserved a day and night off. She hoped they were playing Queen and knight. 

*****

Alice and Robyn decided after s’mores they would go for a romantic moonlit walk through the woods. After trekking through the forest, they thought it would be fun to sneak into the cafeteria and get some ice cream from the kitchen. They walked and snuck kisses to each other as they passed by the office cabin right next door; they stopped in their tracks when they heard all kinds of noises. Alice still holding Robyn’s hand pulled her over to the side of the building with wide eyes.

All the noises were definitely coming from the office cabin and the sounds definitely sounded sexual in nature. Extremely sexual. There was loud moaning, rhythmic thumping of some kind and so much labored breathing it sounded like an intense tennis match.

“Let’s not jump to conclusions, they could be watching porn together,” Alice whispered to Robyn with wide eyes.

“How is that better? My aunt and your boss watching porn together?” Robyn scrunched up her face.

“Yeah, hooking up does sound better,” Alice scrunched up her face too.

The two young women stood quiet and motionless long enough to hear a very, loud guttural primal moan accompanied very plainly by one word said in what sounded like sheer ecstasy or pain, that word clearly was ‘Regina.’ Then followed by a quick succession and repetition of ‘oh gods’ and more ‘Reginas’ moaned, whispered and slightly screamed. Alice and Robyn both crouched frozen with their mouths gapping open in shock. Then came the chorus of ‘Emmas’ moans and Alice put her hands over her ears.

“And there’s our confirmation, let’s get the hell out of here,” Alice grabbed Robyn’s hand and pulled her from the building. “I’ve lost my appetite.”

“Ditto, thinking of Aunt Gina having sex is just about as bad as my parents.” Robyn shook her head and shivered. 

They both quietly walked away then broke off into a run holding hands down the camp trail back to their respective cabins.


	12. Blob of Hope

Next morning at breakfast, Alice and Robyn couldn’t stop smirking as Regina and Emma walked into the dining hall and sat down across from them with their breakfast trays. Emma was eating so fast it’s as if she hadn’t eaten in days, she shoveled pancakes and eggs into her mouth at the same time. 

“Morning boss!” Alice said in her cheery tone grinning at Emma. 

Emma smiled and nodded in return while she continued to devour her breakfast. Regina sat to next to her eating a small bowl of oatmeal. 

“Morning, Robyn and Alice. How are you two this morning?” Regina asked as she looked down at her coffee and scowled. 

Robyn leaned in and whispered into Alice’s ear, “Geesh, you think the two of them would be in a better mood after getting laid last night. Repeatedly at the sound of it.”

Regina’s head shoot up, did she just hear what she thought she heard. “What did you say?” 

Alice jabbed Robyn in her side as she spoke, “She said, looks like you didn’t get a lot of sleep last night.” Alice offered a scared smile. She had to admit her boss’s girlfriend was very intimidating. 

“Those bunk beds aren’t that comfortable to sleep in,” Regina didn’t add that the bunk beds were the not greatest for vigorous sex marathons either. She nearly threw her back out and Emma almost a got concussion from a sexy rollover position. She shifted in her chair, still warm from having Emma’s hands and mouth all over and inside of her all night and this morning. 

“Especially if you’re fitting two people in one,” Robyn whispered again into Alice’s ear, resulting in another jab to her ribs. 

Regina eyed the two young women, they kept looking at each other then glancing up with curious eyes and watching her and Emma. She realized, she needed to talk to Emma on how to proceed regarding how they presented themselves to their staff. 

“Miss Swan, a word in the hall,” Regina got from her seat and walked towards the exit of the dining hall. 

Emma was mid air with a fork headed towards her mouth, she looked up with wide eyes as she watched Regina exit. “She means the great outdoors.” She shoved her fork full of pancakes into her mouth, then stood up and followed after Regina. 

Once they were outside, off to the side of the building for some privacy. Regina crossed her arms against her chest, “Did you tell Alice about us?”

“How, why and when would I’ve had time to tell Alice about us,” Emma couldn’t help the dopey grin on her face from hearing Regina refer to them as an ‘us.’ She felt bold for a second and courage seeped out. “So you’re saying there’s a ‘us’?” She leaned in closer to Regina, it had only been about a half hour since she had her mouth attached to many parts of the brunette’s body; and she was already desperately craving the feel, taste and electricity of Regina again. 

Regina stared into Emma’s eyes, she was already addicted to those green eyes. “Since this is a camp with our staff…why don’t we...”

“Keep it on the down low?”

“Yes, until we figure out…”

“Henry?”

Regina nodded, she looked around and didn’t see anyone around, she pulled on Emma’s tank top until her body was flush up against her own body. She took the blonde by surprise by kissing her. She surprised herself too, there was something about Emma that really made her throw out logical thinking. 

After a few kisses, some longer and deeper than others, Emma and Regina reluctantly pulled away from each other when they spotted someone off in the distance. They returned to Alice and Robyn at the table in the dining hall. 

Alice and Robyn were all hushed voices again while repeatedly glancing at Emma and Regina. Regina rolled her eyes, she had a feeling she knew what the two younger women were gossiping about but her top concern was coffee right now. “I forgot to get creamer for my coffee.”

Before Regina could stand up to get some creamer, Emma pulled two creamers out of her pocket and placed them near the brunette’s coffee cup.

“Thanks,” Regina said softly with a warm smile, she caught herself before she leaned over and kissed Emma on the cheek, it felt like the most natural thing to do. So instead she opted for squeezing the blonde’s thigh underneath the table. 

Emma couldn’t help the grin on her face. She hoped she wasn’t quite as transparent as she felt and she felt like she was floating on one of the greatest highs of her life. She felt like she got the biggest bounce off the blob and never landed in the water yet. Spending all night learning every inch of Regina’s body made everything inside of her tingle. She kept chewing on her toast and pretended not to see Regina stealing some of her French fries. She would give Regina all the fries. 

Alice watched Regina take some of Emma’s French fries and not get scolded. Emma wasn’t known for sharing food. “This is serious,” she leaned and whispered to Robyn, “I think they might get married. Emma is sharing food.” 

Both younger women watched the slightly older women in awe and the immense glow about them without openly giggling and beating the urge to tease the new couple. Instead Alice and Robyn held hands underneath the table. 

*****

The rest of the day went quickly, Regina and Emma both had classes, which they struggled through until lunchtime where they grabbed food quickly and returned back to the office cabin for a quickie. They told everyone there was a conference call with a manufacturer of the rain poncho that tested poorly they needed to discuss. Emma put their special sign on the door again. The only thing that got discussed in the office cabin during that lunch was how to be quiet without being heard throughout the whole damn camp. 

They both managed to get through the rest of the afternoon and then a camp soccer game that Emma was excited about; everybody was involved in the game including Regina. Once again, Emma and Henry were on the same team against Regina. It was a competitive game with Emma chasing Regina up and down the field and assisting Henry in a few goals. Seeing Regina in shorts running was a big turn on and later filed as porn material for Emma. 

Emma scarfed down her dinner, hoping Regina would be as fast too so they could go back to their office cabin. If anything, Emma would use the hurt arm card again, in truth her arm wasn’t hurting her that much and considering how athletic sex with Regina was, she was lucky she hadn’t torn out her stitches again. The three stuffed bunnies had been regulated to the top bunk bed as Regina and Emma were only using the lower one. 

The two women stayed for one s’more and one story before they were about to sneak off, when Ruby stopped them. 

“C’mon on tick check buddy,” Ruby motioned to the bathrooms. 

Emma looked wide eyed, then stole a glance to Regina. 

“That’s okay, Regina will check me,” Emma tried to say as casually as possible and not think about Regina running her hands all over her body. Thankfully, her brain left out the part about looking for dangerous bugs. 

“Oh, really,” Ruby’s eyebrows raised and she ran her tongue over her lips as she looked back and forth between Regina and Emma. 

“Why don’t you go see if Dorothy needs a tick check?” Regina’s voice lower than usually. 

Ruby smirked at the two women the started walking off in the opposite direction. “Have a very good night ladies.” 

As soon as they got to the office cabin, Regina did take the tick check business seriously. 

“Get these off,” Regina tugged on Emma’s pants. “Everything.” 

Emma arched her eyebrows and followed her orders while Regina traced her finger over her arm and stomach, goose bumps pooping up along it’s trail and moans escaping the blonde’s lips. 

“Don’t get too excited over a tick check,” Regina purred in Emma’s ear. 

“Please, I’m not excited,” Emma stared back brazenly into Regina’s eyes. 

“You’re drooling.” 

Emma checked her chin to see if she was in fact drooling over the brunette, which was entirely plausible. 

“Not there,” Regina leaned in and ghosted her lips over Emma’s neck. 

Emma was throbbing between her legs and admitted she probably was dripping down her leg with need for Regina. 

“You win. Is the checking me for ticks part over? I need the fucking me part to start,” Emma smirked as she pulled Regina’s shirt over her head. 

Regina pulled back long to get the shirt off then lunged forward to claim Emma’s mouth. 

Later on when they came up for a break, Regina almost felt guilty for not feeling guilty for not spending more time with her son at the camp, but every time she went to go check on him; Henry was having a grand time surrounded by other campers. She took this as her cue to grab a certain blonde and take advantage of the free time and the privacy their shared office cabin allowed. She was happy her son made new friends and was spending time outdoors learning about nature and breathing in some fresh air. And Regina was very happy spending time indoors learning every inch of Emma’s anatomy.

Neither one had talked about what they were doing or what might come of it. Both too afraid to bust the bubble they created in the last few days. The closest they came was one night when Emma tried to question if Regina was getting tired of sleeping on top of each other in the tiny lower bunk bed. 

“Why are you…up there?” asked a surprised and disappointed Regina as she exited the bathroom and saw Emma sprawled out with the stuffed bunnies on her upper deck bunk bed. 

Emma scrunched up her face. “Thought you might want a break from me sleeping on top of you in these tiny beds.”

“Do you want a break?” Regina asked softly, hoping her voice didn’t quiver too much.

“No…I just didn’t want to assume the same of you.”

“I don’t want or need a break,” Regina stared back intensely, added some smolder to get the blonde to come back to her bed. 

Emma smiled at Regina. 

“Why aren’t you moving?”

“Let’s sleep in my bunk tonight,” Emma wiggled her eyebrows and patted the space next to her on the top bunk bed. “Get your sexy ass up here.” 

Regina shook her head.

“Too much?” Emma looked down wide eyed at Regina. 

Eventually, Regina climbed up the ladder. She carefully crawled up Emma’s body to a very delighted face. Emma couldn’t help some whimpers and whines escape her lips as Regina’s crawl was seductive, slow and torturous until she settled down next to her and draped a leg over Emma’s torso.

It didn’t take much to break the top bunk bed and thankfully as the bed crashed down onto the bottom bed, neither woman was hurt. Emma got a scrap on her leg that bled a little that bothered Regina, she couldn’t look at it. Once again bringing up past memories. 

“I’m not going to be the one to tell Granny how this bunk bed was destroyed,” Regina surveyed the broken bed and a pang of slight embarrassment washed over her. 

“So I’ll tell Granny…hardcore lesbian fucking?” Emma teased and winked at Regina. 

Regina glared back at her goofy lover, she shook her head, and this is what you get for falling into bed with an accidental Internet darling. “Do not tell Granny that.” 

“Passionate love making it is then,” Emma shrugged with a smug grin. 

“I will tell Granny what happened to the bed, who knows what might come out of your mouth,” Regina raised her eyebrows to Emma. 

“You’ve been coming in my mouth so…” Emma didn’t get to finish her punch line since Regina grabbed her by the neck and claimed her lips. 

Emma started giggling. 

“Why are you laughing?”

“I just thought how you chastised me the first night on my skimpy pajamas and you’ve slept completely naked for the past three nights.”

“Well, someone keeps tearing off my tasteful pajamas.” 

*****

The days had been going by really fast, between their work commitments to the camp and spending every other moment together, there was only two and half days left of camp. They managed to spend with Henry when his schedule permitted and he wasn’t having fun with his new friends. 

The mountain bike video day had arrived and Emma, Alice and Robyn had went out to start shooting the footage. After Emma took a mountain bike for a test run, she along with Snow were going to present the entire camp of kids with a new bike and then everyone would take their new bike a ride on one of the shorter, easy trails. 

Regina had lost track of time while catching up on emails, she had ignored work for days, caught up in a wondrous sexual haze with Emma. And she was only able to get a small amount of work done since the object of her sexual haze was off trying out the path for the mountain bike video. She looked at the clock on the computer and realized it was later than Emma said she was going to be back. She put her laptop to sleep and went looking for the blonde. She stepped out and walked the short distance to the cafeteria. There was Snow and Alice standing together with nervous faces and as soon as they saw Regina, they whispered to each other. 

“Have either of you seen Emma?” Regina could feel something was not right in her gut. 

Snow reached her arm to stop Alice from whatever about she was going to say. “There was a small accident with the test run of the mountain bikes.”

Regina felt her stomach drop, it was Emma, that’s why Snow was talking to her in a cautious way and Alice looked scared and sad. “Where’s Emma?”

“She got a mild concussion, but she’s fine. The doctor is checking her over,” Snow tried in her most reassuring voice, she ran her hand up Regina’s arm. 

Regina pushed Snow’s hand off of her arms, she rushed to the door of the infirmary; she took a deep shaky breath and entered. She saw Emma laying on a bed, she was motionless. Panic shot through Regina’s body. Cold sweat popped up on her forehead and upper lip, her hands trembled. She slowly walked over to the bed and touched Emma’s arm, she gently cradled Emma’s hand in her hand, dark sorrowful eyes blinking down at a blood stained bandage on Emma’s temple, tears pinched at the corner of her eyes.

“I’m the one who’s hurt, and you’re crying?” Emma opened her eyes and said cheekily, wanting to lighten the moment as Regina’s eyes found hers once more.

“You idiot.” Regina grumbled, but it was so affectionate. Emma’s heart fluttered. “What the hell were you doing on the bike?” Regina said shakily, her voice wavering so much that Emma’s smile fell. “What if it had been worse? I d-don’t know what I’d have done if -”

“Hey, hey.” Emma soothed, gently cupping Regina’s face with her hand. Regina leaned into the touch, tangling their fingers together. “I’m fine. Or, I will be. I promise.”

Regina swallowed thickly. Emma had been making light of this situation but all Regina could process was the nerves tightening in her stomach as her thoughts raced with alternate scenarios involving Emma getting injured or dying. She couldn’t go through this again, darkness and sorrow nearly swallowed her whole the last time. 

“Don’t you ever scare me like that again.” She ordered in the most imposing voice she could muster. Emma’s smile was radiant; her heart melted hearing Regina’s words as her thumb gently swept over Regina’s cheek.

“Yes Ma’am.” Emma reached out for Regina, but she pulled away. 

Regina took a deep breath and looked away. “Maybe we shouldn’t date because we work together, it’s not a good idea,” Regina’s voice quivered as she spoke, she couldn’t look Emma in the eyes. She pulled her hand away from Emma, she increased the physical distance between them, and she inched further away from the infirmary bed. 

Emma sat up on the bed, that blow hurt way more than her arm getting hurt or the bump on her head. 

“You’re saying this now? After you humped me, stuck your hand down my pants, stuck your tongue down my throat repeatedly and after you played footsies with my boob.” Emma still tried to make light of the situation. She continued staring into scared eyes as Regina pulled away emotionally and physically, “You kissed me. Kissed me like I’ve never been kissed before. We’ve spooned several nights now. You can’t negate spooning, there are laws.” Emma’s stomach tightened, something was spinning out of control and she couldn’t figure out how to stop it. 

Regina looked back at Emma with tears in her eyes, “It’s for the best.” 

“What?” Emma watched Regina turn around. “Regina, wait!” 

Emma didn’t get a chance to fight back; Regina fled the room and possibly her life. 

*****

Snow and Alice barely caught a glimpse of Regina as she ran past them and outside the building. Regina’s mind was a jumbled mess and immediately she had a headache, her stomach lurched prompting her to feel queasy. She only wanted one thing right now, to be home. To have things the way they were before Emma came busting into her well organized life. Seeing Emma in the hospital bed was triggering to say the least. She needed air, she had to leave the camp immediately, when she got back to the city, things could go back to normal. She could just chalk this experience up as a fling brought on by the summer heat. 

Regina walked as fast as she could to find Henry, she found in his small group playing around by the lake. 

Henry ran up to his mom. “How’s Emma doing? Alice told me she had a headache and that she would be around later.” His little brows were furrowed. 

Regina’s stomach once again dropped, seeing concern on her son’s face made her heart thump erratically in her chest. She cleared her throat, “Emma is fine,” Regina squeezed Henry’s shoulders. “Henry, I need to go back home for work. Snow will make sure everything is okay, listen to Snow.” 

“Wait, mom…” Henry’s scrunched his face. “You’re leaving camp early? You’re going to miss the decathlon.” His face in a deep frown as he stared into his mom’s eyes, pleading for her not to go. 

Regina kissed and hugged Henry; before she could not let go she turned and walked away. If she looked back and saw his sad eyes she would lose it in front of everyone at camp. She walked up to the office cabin, Snow was waiting for her on the porch. Regina ignored her boss while she followed her inside. 

“Snow will you do me a favor?” Regina looked around her shared space with Emma for her purse; she hadn’t realized that their room hadn’t gotten so messy. They had spent all their free time having sex, she wondered if it was noticeable to Snow. Well, the broken bed was a dead giveaway. 

“Anything Regina,” Snow walked over and grabbed Regina’s hands, she guided her over to sit on the couch, she looked deeply into her friend’s eyes.

“Can you bring Henry back home when camp is over?” Regina looked down at their joined hands. 

“Regina, you’re leaving? Why?” Snow furrowed her eyebrows. 

“I’ve got work to do, I can’t keep vacationing out here in the woods.”

“No, you’re running away…from Emma,” Snow’s voice was soft. 

“I’m not having this conversation with you.” Regina looked up and glared at Snow. 

“I know you miss Daniel.”

“Not as much as I did when it was just me and Henry, in our routine. We’re a family. And now…now….this person bursts in…it hurts,” Regina’s voice got weaker as she talked. 

“This isn’t the answer. No matter how much pain you may feel, you can’t just run away, Regina.” Snow looked at Regina with tears forming in her eyes. “It’s not a way to live.” 

“It’s an answer for me and living this way has worked fine for Henry and I.”

Regina glared at Snow.

“You won’t feel better. You won’t feel anything,” Snow didn’t let go of Regina’s hand. 

“That’s the point. I can’t go through this again. I can’t fall in love again. I can’t go through loss again. What if she leaves?” Regina held her breath. “What if she gets hurt? What if she dies?”

“She’s only leaving if you push her away. Don’t push her away Regina.”

“What if she gets scared easily?” Regina on the verge of tears turned to Snow, “…I’m a scary person at times.”

Regina could tell that Snow wasn’t going to argue with her on that point. 

“You are. And I’m not going to lie. There will be loss one day. Regina….Love ends in two ways, break up or death,” Snow said solemnly. 

“This is some hope speech. Snow…I could never handle another death,” Regina whispered as tears swelled in her eyes.

Snow pulled Regina into a tight hug. She rubbed circles on her back.

“I’ve had loss, it sucks. I promise you it will get better. With love. Right now, it might be causing you pain. But keep your heart open, I promise you it will let you feel something else soon enough.”

“What’s that?” asked Regina with tears in her eyes. 

“The one thing Daniel always wanted for you to find….happiness.”

“I don’t think I can be happy.”

“I know you can. Emma is a good woman. Maybe just take it slow. Go on some dates and then if you feel like getting closer…intimate…then do it.”

Regina snorted, she looked at her friend and boss with a sly grin. Had her boss not seen the broken bed? 

“Do it? What are we teenagers Snow? What exactly does ‘do it’ mean?” Regina had one eyebrow arched. 

“Regina, it’s been awhile for you so maybe going slow might help in the sexy times department.”

Regina couldn’t hide a smile and she felt mildly offended by Snow’s inference of her sexual history and possible lackluster appetite. She tilted her head and laughed with a smug grin. Yes, she had already banged the new babe in the office. Too many times to count. So many times in the last few days, both of them were walking funny. 

“You two already slept together? When? Back in New York? Is that what all that intense staring was about?”

“How do you think this bed got destroyed?” Regina then realized she needed to fill out some HR paperwork concerning Emma now. “It doesn’t matter when Snow.”

Snow’s mouth was wide open and she squinted her eyes like a light bulb was turned on in her head. 

“You and David were not the only bandits and knights at camp.”

“Oh…” Snow looked a little shocked, her eyebrows raised then came back down again. She had a soft smile. “All the more reason for you to stay.”

Snow knew Regina wanted to be back in her office tent back in New York; her COO liked order, it calmed her. For Regina there was nothing more calming than being back in her office dealing with corporate problems and fussing over Henry.

“No, that’s more reason to go,” Regina grabbed her purse and walked out the door. 

*****

Emma sat up on the infirmary bed, she watched Alice shuffle in slowly and felt the bed dip when she sat down next to her. 

“You know, just because she left doesn’t mean she doesn’t love you,” Alice explained while putting her arm around Emma’s shoulders. “I think she left because she does love you.” 

Emma’s breathing quickened. “Yeah, nothing says love like goodbye, there’s the door,” she snapped back. 

Alice continued to rub Emma’s shoulders. “Love is an open door, you know like the song. Just remember to stay open okay?” She smiled at her friend and boss.

“I don’t know if you remember but in that movie that couple doesn’t make it. He’s the evil guy,” Emma said while staring at Alice. “Staying closed might be a good thing.”

“Staying closed is not a good,” Alice insisted, her eyebrows furrowed. 

“Maybe love is a walkway? Or maybe love is more like a sliding glass door. Always looks open but it’s really closed.” Emma shrugged in defeat; her eyes were watery. 

“Boss, I never realized how bitter you are. You might not have any door, just walls,” Alice had sad puppy dog eyes at friend. 

“Wow, thanks,” Emma grumbled, she did a fake cough to try and hold off the tears until she was alone. 

“I’m kidding. You’ve got at least some windows in those walls or you would have suffocated by now.” Alice was in deep thought, her brows furrowed and her eyes darting around. “Oooorrr maybe, now that I think about it boss, you’re one of those walls that has a doggy door. Have you seen those?” The younger woman’s face lit up with a big toothy grin. 

“Is Regina supposed to be the dog in the scenario?” Emma smirked a tiny bit. 

“Or maybe a cat?” Alice scrunched up her face added her hands for emphasis. 

“Well, we can’t all be wild, young in love…having sex everywhere,” Emma bumped her shoulder against Alice’s shoulder. 

“Oh, we’re waiting,” Alice smiled, her cheeks shining red. 

“What? You two haven’t had sex yet?” Emma’s eyebrows shot up, the small revelation made her smirk and momentarily put her heartache on hold. 

“Geesh, boss mom. Not that it’s your business, but we’re waiting. We wanted it to be really special.”

Emma nodded and gave a small smile back to her friend. 

“Yeah, it can be very nice to wait.” Emma really hoped her face was discreet at this moment.

“And it can nice to have strawberry popsicle dye smeared and smudged all over your body,” Alice gave Emma a smug grin. “Fine. If we had a private cabin we would be fucking each other’s brains out okay?”

Emma felt her cheeks grow extremely warm, that’s exactly what her and Regina had been doing for the past few days. She had never had as much sex as she had with Regina the past few days, they couldn’t seem to get enough of each other which felt absolutely exhilarating and terrifying at the same time. Then she felt a huge wave of melancholy wash over her realizing that wasn’t going to happen again. Regina had left and didn’t appear to want to pursue a relationship. 

“Cheer up boss, she might have left camp, but she’s not gone.”

*****

The scenic mountains and tress were blurring past Regina as she sped down the highway in her black Mercedes away from camp. Regina’s emotions were speeding past her in a similar fashion. Her heart was going in two different directions, one way to Emma and one way to the safer option, returning life back to normal, just keeping her and Henry safe. She kept hearing Snow’s insufferable hopeful words in her head, finally it became too much and she pulled her car over. As much as her heart hurt seeing Emma injured, her heart did hurt much worse thinking she would never get to kiss her again. Or wake up with a mess of blonde curls in her face. Or have a corny innuendo thrown at her. Or seeing the way Henry smiles at Emma. She knew that had only technically really connected in the last few days, but if she was being honest with herself, she had fallen for the blonde months ago. Her stomach then fluttered in the good way and she knew she had to go back and apologize to Emma before she ruined everything for good. 

The next thing Regina knew, was that she was racing back to camp and looking around everywhere for Emma. The office cabin was empty, the infirmary was thankfully empty, she wasn’t at the blob, so she tried their make shift editing room. 

Robyn looked up from her laptop and her eyes got wide. “Aunt Regina! You’re back!” She jumped up and gave her aunt a big hug, almost knocking her down. 

“Robyn, I was only gone for a few hours,” Regina smiled to her niece while pushing some hair off her face when they parted from their hug. 

“You were gone ages it felt like, Emma has been so sad which means Alice has been really sad. I don’t like seeing Alice sad…and of course Emma,” Robyn’s cheeks went pink. 

Regina tilted her head to admire her sweet, wise niece. “So…where are the two mopey blondes?”

“They went for a walk,” Robyn explained while watching some color drain from Regina’s face. 

Regina felt her chest tighten again, why was Emma such an idiot and out walking in the woods after getting a mild concussion. 

“It’s okay Aunt Gina, the doctor said she was fine, just a little bump.” Robyn reached and rubbed her aunt’s arm. “If you’re scared, just take it slow like Alice and I are doing.”

“Slow? You and Alice?” Regina held in a snort. 

“Yes, we are mature young adults. We’re not some horny teens running around humping each other.”

Regina felt hugely embarrassed and prayed her face didn’t give anything away, even though her cheeks did indeed feel warm. 

“That’s a wise decision on your part,” Regina felt an affection for Alice suddenly, maybe Emma’s assistant was a good match after all for her niece. “And Alice’s.”

“I’m really glad you came back Aunt Regina,” Robyn’s face lit up. “I’ve got an idea on how you can apologize to Emma and we could make a great video, a video that will let you out of not having to be in any more videos.” She grinned at her aunt’s scrunched up face. 

Regina was pretty sure she wasn’t going to like this idea, but she did want to make a gesture to Emma and apologize for leaving and breaking up whatever they had started. If that meant she was in another video, she would do it for Emma. She looked over at her niece who was rapidly typing away on her laptop. 

“Henry is running over to help, he’s got the best ideas,” Robyn blurted out as she continue to type away on her laptop. “He messaged, he’s glad you got your butt back here.” 

Regina pursed her lips; she was going to have to talk to her son about his language. She couldn’t help a smile spreading though, if Henry was involved, they would definitely get Emma’s attention and hopefully repair any damage she created with her outburst and leaving. 

*****

After walking through the woods for a bit, Emma was spread out on the couch in the office cabin surrounded by six stuffed bunnies around her; the stuffed bunnies seemed to be multiplying. She clutched onto one particular bunny while she thought of Regina leaving and how her heart felt ripped out of her chest. 

Alice busted through the door. “Boss! You gotta see this!”

Emma barely acknowledged the younger blonde. “I’ll see it later, Alice. I’m taking a nap,” Emma said in a downtrodden tone.

“You gotta see this now. We’re doing another video…it’s a live stream.” Sounding out of breath, Alice shoved the company tablet into Emma’s hands, in the process knocking some of the stuffed bunnies onto the floor. 

“I thought you were setting up for the decathlon tomorrow? Who authorized this? Is Snow doing one?” Emma’s brow was furrowed as she stared intensely at the video window waiting for something to happen on the live stream. 

Emma nearly dropped the tablet when she saw Regina wearing a life preserver standing on what appeared to be the blob platform. Her senses tingled seeing Regina hosting a live stream video.

“What the hell is going on?” Emma’s mouth opened wide as did her eyes. 

“Let’s go down there!” Alice grabbed Emma’s arm and tugged her along.

They got to the lake fast, running along the forest trails, the sound of Regina’s voice echoed through the tablet and now Alice’s phone as they got almost directly underneath the platform where Regina, Henry and Robyn were on top of shooting the live stream. 

“Hello, I’m…” Regina hadn’t really thought out the speaking part. Did she want to say her name? Did she want to acknowledge her position as the COO of SnowArcher? Her eyes darted around. “You might remember me from a few videos that I didn’t want to be in.” Regina took a deep breath. “I’m here to product test…uh…” she looked around from the top of the platform, “…this life preserver.” Regina pointed to the SnowArcher life preserver she wore.

Regina looked over to Henry wearing a children’s SnowArcher life preserver with a scowl on his face.

“Mom…” Henry sighed deeply with a long, harsh stare at Regina.

Robyn gave her disappointed look as well while aiming the camera at her. 

“And I’m here to product test something else…” Regina took a deep breath, looked into the camera, “…my heart.”

Henry tugged on his mom’s arm and pointed down to the ground where Emma stood looking up at them. Regina looked down below into Emma’s eyes, her heart nearly bursting out of her chest.

Emma looked up at Regina then briefly glanced at the tablet. She couldn’t believe Regina was making this spectacle.

“My heart hasn’t been tested in a very long time,” Regina’s hands felt clammy, her heart felt like a drumlin in her chest. 

Alice nudged Emma’s shoulder and the biggest grin spread across her face. Emma stood there breathless; she couldn’t believe what she was seeing and hearing. 

“Emma Swan…I need you to test one more thing.”

Henry yelled then jumped off the platform onto the blob to cheers and clapping of fellow camp goers and staff that had gathered around the platform. As soon as he landed he scooted further down making room for his mom’s jump and landing.

Without any further notice, Regina took a giant leap off the platform and landed with a splat onto the blob. She scooted further down the blob herself, making room for one more person to jump onto the blob. For one special person to hopefully take the plunge and propel both her and Henry into a fuller, richer life of love. 

“Go boss!” Alice pushed Emma towards the stairs to the blob platform.

Emma ran up the stairs, looked over the edge at Regina and Henry waiting down below for her on the blob. The audience gathered around started cheering. She walked slowly back to the back of the platform. Upon noticing her retreat Regina’s heart began to sink. Then Emma sprang into a run, running as fast as she could on the short deck of the platform before launching herself and aiming for the blob down below while still in her clothes. As she landed on the blob, Regina and Henry were catapulted off into the air then splashed down in the lake. Before she could enjoy watching them laugh and splash around in the lake she was flung off the blob high in the air by Robyn, who landed nearly on top of her right behind. Emma scrambled and frantically swam up to the top of the water. Regina and Henry were watching and treading water when Emma swam over to them. 

Emma leaned into Regina and whispered. “Really your heart? Seems a little sappy for you.” She couldn’t help grinning like a fool at Regina, desiring to kiss the woman senseless. 

“It was Henry’s idea,” Regina whispered, both women looking over to the young boy swimming towards them. Henry high fived Emma, and then started swimming off to the shore with Robyn towards Alice waiting for them. 

Emma pulled Regina towards her and placed a very wet kiss on her lips. “Your heart is by far the best product that I’ve gotten to test.”

As they treaded water and got to where they could stand up, Regina grabbed onto Emma tightly and happily kissed her back. Gazing into those eyes the utmost tenderness filled her voice, “Well, that product is only sold to one person.”


End file.
